double transfer

[Imperfect89]

what are your stories? I’ve been given a horrific fear phone call about us wanting a double transfer. Anyone had the opposing side? As I’m sure people have been persuaded into having them too?

[Kimbob82]

Can I ask what their argument was against having a double transfer... just out of curiosity? (Apart from the obvious of having a higher risk pregnancy if it ends up being twins...)

[Imperfect89 in reply to Kimbob82]

good and bad embryos- bad one sending signals causing both to fail. Following this I was told that it was not proven it’s just in the midst of investigation. Mainly it was all pregnancy risks & my body coping. She said there was no increase in chances of double or single but more risks. She said alot tbf but it was all very frightening. We have 18 frozen so she said please don’t just use them because you’ve got loads and don’t want to do them one at a time. I know it costs money but one at a time is better.

We asked before about a double- and we had one. On that occasion it was a different doctor and he said the nhs just couldn’t cope with twin complications at this time- that was 2020.

[Kimbob82 in reply to Imperfect89]

I think it depends on a lot of different factors... how old you are, how many transfers you've done, if your embryos are tested etc etc. If it's only your first transfer, I would definitely stick to one... x

[Imperfect89 in reply to Kimbob82]

it’s my fifth. I’ve had two work and two fail x

[Kimbob82 in reply to Imperfect89]

Very personal decision then. Would you be ok with twins? Also, I really don't believe that theory about one embryo taking the other one with it... sounds like more of a fear tactic to me. Anyway good luck with whatever you decide, go with your gut x

[Imperfect89 in reply to Kimbob82]

I have amazing support so whatever happens I will be happy, I just don’t want to be scared into a decision I will regret when I can’t afford to go back anytime soon and it consumes your life doesn’t it xx

[Imperfect89]

well she did say it wasn’t proven so I would agree. Thank you xxx

[Klndmr]

I personally always wanted a double transfer. I was refused one in UK due to my age, they said I'm young and I don't need double transfer. I'm doing IVF in Turkey now, I had a double transfer back in May and double transfer 17 days ago. My consultant said they do double transfers to increase the chances of sucess and I fully support that. Of course if you have enough embryos and Iyou wouldn't mind twins I would go for it 😍🤗🍀💕 Best of luck xxx

[Imperfect89 in reply to Klndmr]

thank you! I wish you all the luck in the world xxx

[Klndmr in reply to Imperfect89]

Thanj you x

[Hidden]

I think its probably because you already have three children and two of them via IVF so they know IVF can work for you and you are clearly receptive to it. They are very wary of encouraging multiple births (particularly where there are already other children in the family) and so tend to only advise on multiple transfers if a) you are older than late 30s or b) there is a history of failed IVF or c) if you only have a couple of embryos and they aren't good enough to freeze so they transfer both. I think they probably feel in your circumstance that there is a high chance of success again for you so why risk complicating. Also there is a school of thought as suggested to you that a poor quality transferred with a top quality embryo can prevent the top quality from succeeding x

[Imperfect89 in reply to Hidden]

hi, thank you for the info. I’m asking a question about opposing arguments to the one I have been provided I already know all my details and the facts about ifs buts and whys just want a different perspective.

[Imperfect89 in reply to Hidden]

not to sound ungrateful just looking for something hopeful. Xxx

[Sweatsour]

Hi Freyabelle,

I had a double transfer in the past. At week 6 there were 2 heart beats and at week 8 only one, which is now my 2 year old daughter.

some time later I proceed with another IVF and I transfer 1 embrio only. This embrio has split (1%) of chance into two and resulted in twin pregnancy. Sadly I had to terminate this pregnancy at week 12 as one baby has shown development difficulties. The second baby was fine but you can't do selective termination. Horrific situation! What I am trying to say is that there is a chance that your 2 embrios will spilt and then you can have triples or even 4. My advice is to go one at the time if you have money & time.

[Imperfect89 in reply to Sweatsour]

so what was there persuasion for the double first time it was it a choice?

[Sweatsour in reply to Imperfect89]

I have had only 2 embrios from the first round of IVF & I didn't know any better. Also i just thought tha there is a little point if freezing just one.

Even when the one embrio split at first I was delighted thinking of pushing identical twins in the buggy. Only when complication started to reviled and I have listen of number of surgeries I will have to go through the reality has hit me.

I am no saying this will be your scenario but there is 1:100 chances that it will

😱

[Twiglet2]

they need to make you aware of the risks of multiples BUT on the nhs I went for a double against their advice (didn’t work but I wanted to try) now that I am self funded the same clinic was more than happy to do a double transfer this year (still didn’t work) so I’ve had 5 single transfers and 2 doubles (it was a singleton that worked for us but the timing was right for doubles for us).

It’s not just about the money it’s about the time not takes to transfer 2 separately etc so you just need tk do what’s right for you at the time and with that many embryos if you feel comfortable that there’s a chances of twin pregnancy then it’s certainly worth trying a double transfer in my opinion xx

[Imperfect89 in reply to Twiglet2]

thank you for your story.

Yes, this was also an issue of mine, it took me a year, 3 x FER’s to get pregnant again and £7500+ fortunately I had saving then.. now I don’t, so not only do I not have the money to go again anytime soon- I also don’t really want to be taking up another year it’s a lot on your body and definitely your mental health isn’t it.

[Swee31_21]

our clinic was really against having a double transfer but it was more for the same reason. But also because of twin pregnancy. I did a double transfer on my second transfer as I wanted that to double my chances and I was successful now 19 weeks pregnant with twins and both healthy. I think it all depends on you really in the end there will always be pros and cons to weigh up. Hope this helps xxx

[Imperfect89 in reply to Swee31_21]

thank you & big congratulations xx

[Swee31_21 in reply to Imperfect89]

thank you! I wish you all the best xxx

[Ivfgotadream]

I did a double transfer had twins - privately.

My friend did a single transfer had triplets 🫣

my clinic was ok with doing doubles do to my age, it was my 5th round, no tubes left so no risk of ectopic anymore, I also said I’m out of money. I’d spent nearly £30k by that point and could afford 2 double transfers but not 4 single. I also wanted the whole process over with as it was impacting on my eldest child

BUT pregnancy brutal physically. We all nearly died during Birth. Twins in NICU for 3 weeks…..

And my husband has recently left because 1. He can’t cope with twins as well as our eldest child. 2. He said he doesn’t feel the same towards them as our naturally conceived child because they are IVF

Admittedly didn’t see the second one coming!

[Imperfect89 in reply to Ivfgotadream]

so so sorry to hear this xx

[Westcoastwestie]

We had a double transfer.

Sat on the bed waiting for my transfer they were still trying to talk me out of it. Probably similar scare stories you have been told. I did it any way.

Only one took. I’m still pregnant with twins.

The risk of twins is always there and so long as you are comfortable with that then I think you know best what you want to do deep down.

I wouldn’t waver on my decision. I’d done so much reading and we only had two. We had been over every pro and con. The only thing that shocked me was at my viability scan was when they needed to check there wasn’t a third baby! A real possibility you’d need to consider.

[Imperfect89 in reply to Westcoastwestie]

oh yes ofcourse.

This is amazing congratulations 🎉 xxx

[Ireness]

My daughter had two embryos left (only four to start with). When she went for the transfer they said they had thawed one and it looked like it wasn’t waking up so they thawed the remaining one too. Luckily the first one then woke up.

They offered to refreeze one or transfer them both which she decided to do. She’s now got the most beautiful twins, a girl and boy 16 months old.

The pregnancy was a constant worry and she had complications but so worth it. Having twins isn’t easy but she’s got a wonderful husband and lots of family around to help.

We can’t even imagine what it’s like to just have one baby now.

I think all you can do is go with your gut instinct and live with your decision whatever that may be.

[Imperfect89]

beautiful story thank you. Xx

[Purplelabyrinth]

I had my first ever FET yesterday which was a double.

My clinics views are for a fresh transfer then they will do a double transfer up to day 3 and then a single at day 5 as the statics for 1 live birth remain the same.

For frozen they had no problem doing a double. They freeze embryos in pairs where they can of equalling quality, I was told this is to do with the freezing and unthawing process. If there is an issue with one odds are the other will be fine without adding a time delay for thawing another.

I had 7 frozen embryos 4 frozen as pairs and 3 as singles (the last 3 were singles because it took them a bit longer to get to the right stage)

Again their view was that it would the same chance as a fresh transfer single. I will say I am 33 and in UK

[Imperfect89 in reply to Purplelabyrinth]

what clinic are you with? My fresh cycle got given an 80% chance because of the quality of embryo and it did work but it took 3 frozen to get pregnant again.. they’re saying my odds are good at 50% of my treatment working which says nothing to me because 50% is the same for everyone it either will or it won’t 🤷🏼‍♀️ But only 2/5 worked for me … plus I had to increase medication by my 3rd FER and they’ve put me back down to the lower amount again… I don’t know, kind of trust them but I’m not into being scared out of doing something, I think it’s poor. My clinic also work directly with the NHS hospital so I’m wondering if that is a concern for them not wanting to put pressure on them or if it causes “a telling off” when they send twin pregnancies over. I don’t know:

[Purplelabyrinth in reply to Imperfect89]

Hey, I'm with Shropshire & Mid Wales Fertility Clinic, they do NHS, NHS self funded and private here. And they originated within the hospital but then moved to a more modern suite within our local GP hub (I'm under the shropshire site)

They never said what our specific chances were, just to focus each stage and they seemed to focus more on what larger data statistics suggest. I guess that's because there are so many different variables that come into play with each couple.

Equally you can have 1 transfered which could split there is no way of foreseeing if a pregnancy will result in a multiple birth right at the beginning.

Does your clinic have recent statistics of outcomes for the last few years? Ours has it on their website and the amount of multiples per year is very few, off the top of my head I'm sure it's less than 10. It might be worth having a look.

I think you have to go with your gut and if you've got questions as to why your medications have changed you're within your rights to have an explanation to find out why. You could drive yourself mad with ifs, buts, and maybes otherwise.

[Imperfect89 in reply to Purplelabyrinth]

I’ve just looked at the stats and it basically says that there aim is to keep multiple births under 10% so it’s a fear tactic to keep their multi birth numbers down. Thank you, very insightful xx

[Monsoon_rain]

Hi

We had single transfers all failed, having only two embryos left and considering that in terms of age I had not much time on my side to continue IVF, also COVID had delayed any treatment so the consultant in a clinic Spain asked us what we wanted to do, explained the risks of twin pregnancy but left it to us to decide, I read a bit about it and we decided to go with two, to be honest not in a million years did I think that it would be successful, I thought a million chance one will make it but what you know I had a great pregnancy other than being petrified that something would go wrong and my twins are the light of my life. Of course there are risks but sometimes you have to balance pros and cons. Cost of treatment and the toll on my health both physical and mental were big factors for us. Go with your gut, there is no right or wrong, best of luck 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

[Imperfect89 in reply to Monsoon_rain]

that’s amazing, thank you for your story. I’m out of money this time and it takes over your life doesn’t it. I want to book a holiday and it’s like ahhhh I can’t afford it because I have to save for IVF again or I can’t choose a date incase we are due another round. I think I’m going to stick with what we want & get my husband to tell them to stop getting on at me.

[Star3129]

Hey don't have any advice for you but didn't want to read and run. I had my 1st two cycles in India 6 years ago when I was much younger and the reason for failure was told to us I guess may be it was the chances of ivf also can be the male factor. I was scheduled for fet on 4th but had to cancel it due to oestrogen side effects where my calves were stiff and swelled up,water retention.

As soon as I get my periods my cycle would be started🤞and will have fet with double transfer I spoke to my doctor about double and it definitely increases the chances of conceiving so I think we will go with that although we will decided accurately just before the day of transfer.

So i think it definitely increases the chances of pregnancy and if you are willing to have twins it should be OK.

[sandra81]

I had three embryos put in. Two eggs gave me my twin girls the other one just disappeared in my tummy. The only complication they told me of was the risk of twins. Because I was a geriatric parent (according to their definitions) a twin pregnancy would be complicated. I was also obese and still am though trying to do something about it. At that point I did not care all I wanted was a baby so when they told me I had a chance of two that was like music to my ears. I had preemclampsia at 7 months but so did other people I know who were carrying singletons and were not geriatric parents.

[Imperfect89]

congratulations and well done you! Yes this is what I thought, the complication is the twin pregnancy which is fine with me. I think the other things are just scare tactics.