OK I realise this might seem obvious, but I keep going back and forth about my final two frozen embryos. They are both of similar quality - both bb.
My Dr says transfer one incase one causes the other one to fail and incase there are things we can learn between each transfer (for example this time he's adding in steroids after last failed transfer). I also know it only increases your chances of pregnancy by a small % but if (by some miracle) both stick, it can massively increase complications.
Coincidentally, I took a call from my NHS Dr yesterday (I happened to get to the top of their private list and used the opportunity to grill him lol) and his advice was to transfer both as at my age (41) the chances of both being normal are low therefore reducing the chance of twins, complications etc. He also said the financial and emotional stress of doing single transfers can be tough. He's right, we've only managed one transfer this year for reasons like ohss, high oestrogen, covid, Drs leave, chemical pregnancy etc etc.
I should also say that I did a double transfer with 2 x 3 day embryos on my first cycle and a single blast transfer on my second cycle and both BFN. So it's not a case of trying something different this time.
I am actually thinking of doing a fresh collection rather than transfer any embryos this year but that's a decision for another time.
What reasons did people have to do the double? What do you think I should do? There's a certain comfort in not using both at once and having hope. Transferring both and them not working puts us back to square one - so I'm wondering if I'm just avoiding it.
Much love to you all! Joey xx
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I think the main reason for transfering two embryos is to increase the chance for a success. I personally also wouldn't mind having twins. But I think in many cases when transfering two embryos, one goes and one stays. My clinic transfers two to increase the chances of sucess, thats their main reason.
Im just about to do another FET and we are going for two embryos again hoping that at least one will stick 🤞🤞🤞
Whatever you decide I just want to wish you all the best of luck! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
hi lovely, yes I don't mind twins either. In fact I'd love it. I think with it being my last two and I haven't had success so far, it's just a big gamble isn't it x
Hi Joey! Its a difficult decision. I've had 5 tranfers over the years. All doubles. My first one was bfp but only one stuck. My daughter is 3 now. The next 3 double transfers were bfn. My final transfer around this time last year was a bfp. Both stuck. Two lovely heartbeats at a 9 wk scan but at the 12wk scan, only one remained. He was born 11wks ago. Both of those were 5aa grade. They think it was a chromosome issue that we lost one. My consultant has always recommend double transfers for me. She believes there is a higher chance of at least one sticking. Im grateful for that now as I would possibly never had a bfp. I was 38 at first transfer. I was 41 on last transfer. Ive one left in the freezer(5bb) and ill transfer it in the new year. I would have loved twins but it wasnt written in the stars. I am not sure if i will go for a fresh cycle or not. Im not far away from 42 now and im aware of egg quality at this stage. The constant bfn are crushing. For my final cycle, i added coq10, innohep and a probiotic pessary. One of those was my golden ticket for my last successful pregnancy. My gut is telling you to go for it.
Just to say your story feels me with so much hope! Im 38 and it’s easy to feel like we are ‘over the hill’ with egg quality but your story is exactly the inspiration I need to keep plugging away and rolling the dice. Thank you x
I'm so happy to give some positivity. I was 38 when i had my first transfer, almost 39 actually. Before that, I honestly thought it would never happen. Your day will come. Ill be looking out for your great news.x
Thank you, it’s so easy to feel like giving up but you’ve got to be in it to win it so I’m trying to keep telling myself it will happen eventually even if we feel like throwing in the towel most of the time x
I am doing a double transfer next month. I should be starting estrogen soon.
The reason i am doing a double transfer is that i don't have much hope for these two embryos and i don't want two long FETs with prostap and all these drugs for over 4 months for not much of a chance. They are the last two embryos from my fourth cycle and have poor and average morphology. Both day six blastocysts. My clinic only gave me the option between non-monitoted natural FET cycle or extra long constructed FET cycle. I didn't feel could go through this twice with very little hope
I had 3 single transfers and one double so far. I feel that the embryologists and doctors have always agreed with me on single or double whatever i was saying as long as it is within thei policy. No real help or insight as to what would be best for my specific case, specific age and embryo grade etc.
It is a great question and I personally transferred two embryos because as a woman over 40, the odds were low so 2 embryos can increase the odds slightly per cycle. There is also a cost implication of single transfers.
My understanding is that an embryo can only affect a good embryo if there is a massive disparity between their grades.
I think go with what you are comfortable with. When I had a double transfer, I had 4 embryos that looked promising on day 3. I transferred 2 and 2 were allowed to progress to day 5. 1 embryo stuck and 1 made it to day five. Wishing you all the best!!Xxx
Hi. I transferred two fresh embryos on Drs advice and ended up with twins at the age of 40! I didn’t expect this, but wouldn’t change things now. However, pregnancy can be harder than a singleton and there’s the added cost of twins and practicalities of daily life etc. Good luck whatever you decide x
Hi, I’ve had 3 transfers and I transferred 2 embryos at a time for 2 of them. One of the reasons was my age (42 and then 43), so more chance of one being chromosomally good. However, it was also because I had some lower grade blasts too. I get what you mean about not liking the idea of starting over. My consultant said that it’s pre-determined and therefore a numbers game. No advice to give but good luck deciding what’s best for you. It’s great that you have 2 good quality embys. There are so many factors you can’t control. I find going with flow as much as poss is key. Wishing you so much luck and sending love xx
for me it’s always been about success quicker the chances increase slightly that at least one of them will be normal embryo and one will stick with a double transfer. When times against you waiting months to try again with the 2nd one just sometimes outweighs the twin pregnancy risk for people (certainly always been a consideration for me) but there is no right or wrong answer and has to be what sits right with you. I’ve did double and single transfers (BFPs and BFNs with both but single transfer only one that was successful pregnancy) whatever you decide is the right decision for you xxx
Hello I’m doing a double transfer this month my reason is I have 2 embryo left and I’m paying private and this is my very last FET cycle. I couldn’t leave one behind.
My other two transfers were one bfn and one chemical. The consultant told me I was best putting two embryo back in on my third try.
Like you iv asked all the same questions and worry about complications etc good luck on your journey xx
I’m 38 and about to begin EC priming in a few weeks. If I manage to get enough embryos to do double transfers (and I think at my age where I live it’s permitted) then I’d do double on every try.
I love the idea of twins and my body is generally in good shape so personally I will accept the risks, but I think it’s a very individual decision and has lots of influencing factors that have already been mentioned here - time available, cost, personal finances for the future, potential childcare arrangements.
We have only one year of nhs equivalent treatment here and then we would have to go private, which we can’t afford - so I’m throwing everything we have at this 🤞
Best of luck for your transfer whichever route you choose 🍀
I’m 36 and my wife’s embryos were frozen a week before her 36th birthday. We’ve had a long journey and our last two embryos from this batch are ‘average’. Ones a day 5 and one is a day 6. I’m having both transferred (hopefully) this month. Our consultant told us the chance of twins is 20-25 percent. There’s so much mixed evidence on how/if transferring two embryos changes the chance of success.. We’re just going with our gut feeling and the knowledge there’s a low chance of a twin pregnancy xx
I have also questioned myself about 1 or 2 embryos.
I had an FET in feb 2020, I transferred 2 embryos which were 5AA and I was 31. My consultant had recommended I use 2 so I just went with it, it had been a long journey to getting to ivf and at this point I just wanted to do anything for it to work. I was really lucky that it was my first round and one embryo stuck. My daughter is now 2 next month.
I had another FET in July this year, my husband wanted to put 2 in again but I was apprehensive, couldn’t decide. Thought as I have my daughter I will do 1, it was also a top grade 5AA. It didn’t stick which I was perhaps naively surprised by because I had been so lucky with the first!
Anyway I have 5 embryos left they are generally similar grades some are 5ab or 5bb. I am having another FET next month and the clinic have suggested again putting 2 in this time. I am still a bit apprehensive but I would really rather not put myself through another cycle , financially, emotionally etc. although I know if it fails again and I have 3 left I will probably do a double and then a single!
Personally we went with two for a few reasons that boil down to funding. We only had two after our first collection and our NHS funding was clear. We could only have 3 transfers funded. So we decided to take slightly higher odds on the first transfer incase we needed more chances.
There was a very intense conversation on the day of transfer with the doctor (who I had never met and had done none of my prior care) about why she didn’t want me to transfer 2. I refused to change my mind. Im now pregnant with twins. But from just one of them. The other didn’t take.
The reason is to increase success chances, especially when there is age to consconsider. Usually when they offer it, is because the chance of both sticking is not high, and that would shorten the time to go into other treatment. Persons under 35 are not allowed to do this. The complications depend on many factors. My mom had natural twins at 37 and she barely had a problem (preclampsia in the last month, which is normal), they did not even need incubator, weight was perfect and C section was done just for protocol. I am youngeryounger than she was, i have just one embryo, andand I have gestational diabetes (first in the family to have that in atat least 5 generations, thank you PCOS). The problem of transferring 2, is that you are actually at risk that both embryos work, and they both split, and you end up with 2 set of twins (embryos in IVF are prone to splitting in identical twins).
My first transfer, I transferred 2x 5AA embryos & I regretted it! Mainly because following this failed transfer and my second failed of 1x 4AA, we learnt a lot. 3rd transfer I finally had my first BFP after 3 yrs TTC but ended in blighted ovum which I put down to the embryo - it wasn’t the best quality and didn’t thaw very well. I can’t help but think if only I didn’t transfer 2 first in the round I’d have likely had success with the 4AA 3rd time around!
That said, now I’m tempted again after I do my second round of IVF, to transfer 2! I know it’s high risk but I would love twins.
I think if there’s still test you haven’t done, I’d maybe only do the one.
Incase you’re wondering what I learnt after my 1st & 2nd transfer:
Blessings Hi 👋 I am 43 and I did the double embryo transfer the doctor said that my chances of having twins were very slim due to my age I was doing the double embryo to increase my chances for a successful pregnancy the first 2 times were fresh and third time it was frozen and praise God I’m here with my twin babies now 3 months it was a beautiful pregnancy no complications whatsoever my babies were born at 36 weeks 4 days baby girl weighed 6lbs 7 oz and baby boy was at 6lbs…just want to share my experience with double embryo transfer wishing you the best of luck baby dust to you all
So glad i came across your post i am on the verge of deciding for double transfer with my husband and this gives so much bliss to read. What a lovely outcome and i hope we just decided ☺️
thank you SO MUCH everyone for sharing your experiences! It's really interesting to hear everyone's thoughts and I figured cost, time and emotion were the driving factors. Me being me, I still haven't made up my mind lol but will talk to the Dr about it a little more. I am swaying towards a double now having heard all your stories, but it honestly terrifies me if it doesn't work and I'm back to the drawing board. I worked so hard to get those little embryos!
I know my Dr favours singles as he feels your chances of overall success in ivf is higher over the space of the transfers as opposed to a slight increase on one transfer. But I will grill him some more xxx
It also terrifies me at the thought of being back to the drawing board if I do doubles as I’d have more hope if there are still some in the freezer. Silly I know but I’ve been having this deliberation because we won’t do another egg collection after 5 already. So it would be a case of donor or whatever else.
My Dr says the same as yours that single transfers over doubles will give the best overall chance of a live birth more than doubles, which only increases the success rate a little in that given transfer. For me cost wasn’t a big issue but more the time and emotional impact of lots of single transfers. I suspect I will do singles but still undecided, I’ll maybe do doubles of the lower graded ones later on if I’m finding singles too hard xx
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