One of the common side effects of IVF pregnancies is an increased rate of multiples. Nearly 20-40% of IVF pregnancies result in multiples.
IVF is different than other fertility treatments. People having quintuplets or more are normally going through a treatment where the mom’s hormones are spiked very high creating many more eggs than normal providing many more landing places for the sperm.
In the beginning of an IVF cycle, the mom’s hormones are spiked, but the eggs are removed and fertilized outside the body. The number of eggs returned to the mom is controlled.
But that is also why the instance of multiples is so high. It is normal for doctors to recommend using 2 to 4 embryos at a time to increase the chance of getting pregnant.
Why would anybody be crazy enough to let them put 2-4 embryos in on purpose? Not every embryo transfer survives to become a bouncing bundle of joy. In fact, the odds are closer to 20-30%. The more embryos that go in, the better the chance. With the high cost of the procedure, you can save a lot of money by reducing the number of transfers needed to get pregnant and not everybody’s insurance plan covers the costs of IVF treatment.
Not everybody is happy about the high rate of multiples. Multiples introduce a lot of difficulties during pregnancy that are not to be taken lightly. One of the most obvious involves the fact that multiples have lower birth weights. Twins have a 30% chance of being born prematurely. We were lucky. Geetle and Pookie made it to 37 weeks and 1 day and weighed 7 lb 3 oz and 6 lb 7 oz respectively. I know people who were not as lucky and had to spend many weeks in the neonatal unit waiting for their babies to come home.
Europe, in particular, is pushing to decrease the amount of embryos and are encouraging doctors to use one embryo at a time when the woman has a resonable chance of success.
Currently, in America, a woman with low risk factors is probably going to start with two embryos at a time unless they push very strongly for less. As women get older or show that they are going to have more trouble getting pregnant, the recommendation jumps to three or four.
Our doctor convinced us to start with two at a time. We had two put in the first time and nothing happened. Then we had two put in the second time and everything worked and we ended up with twins. Cool.
Here’s the potential surprise. Even though you know exactly how many embryos went in, you have no idea how many you will end up with. While at a check up at the fertility clinic when they were listening for the kids’ heartbeats the nurse told us a scary story.
A few months earlier a couple had put two embryos in. And they both stuck. Great, right? But, then they both split and become their own twins. For those of you that don’t like math, that means they ended up with quadruplets. Yikes.
If you are going through IVF, talk long and seriously about how many embryos they plan on putting in at a time. If the number is larger than one, and it probably will be, you should seriously consider challenging that.
I would not go back and change anything that we did, obviously. But, if we ever do it again, it will be one at a time. But then again I already have twins.
Coming up next: Should you tell your family and friends that you are trying to get pregnant?
If you want to see the table of contents for this series, it is here.
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Em… aren’t you contradicting yourself a bit here? With the high cost of the IVF and the horrible process a woman goes through, you mean they should just put back 1??? Isn’t 2 a safe number to put back in just in case one doesn’t survive.
You’re lucky that your 2 survived healthy but what if you put back 1 every time and they didn’t make it? Many people can hardly afford the finances and emotions needed for an IVF treatment and so wasting so much money just to put back 1 on purpose seems rather wierd to me. Think about that.
I think they should be stored individually that way one can be put in at a time and therefore if it doesn’t work, you haven’t wasted one since they are currently stored two in a bundle.
Also, we had all the expenses covered by our insurance. I’m sure that if I was paying out of pocket that might change my thoughts a little.
We got pregnant again earlier this year and are about to have our third baby in the next week or two. We made them put in one at a time and lost one during each transfer. Fortunately it took before we ran out.
So I am in the midst of IVF fertility shots. Enjoyed your post on how to give your sweetie a shot. I have found I may need to lay down for the SC shots, as one of them (monopril?) makes me a little light-headed…
We haven’t decided yet on how many embryos to implant (assuming we get any). I’m over 40. Our insurance will cover the first $15K each for IVF. Our clinic estimates this to be one harvesting cycle and maybe 2-3 implantation rounds. However, when you are over 40, you don’t end up with 30 eggs, you get 8 if you are very lucky. Some embryos don’t look good. Some don’t survive freezing. So statistically, we are planning on just one round. And probably a very scary transfer of 3-4 embryos. God. What if they all take?!?
I admire the European system for their solution to this problem, which is to implant one at a time. Of course, the treatments are covered thru nationalized health care, so European couples don’t need to agonize over cost vs. outcome. I read somewhere that this approach pays for itself, because they don’t have insanely high ICU costs for increasiong numbers of multiple births.
On the other hand, I got in to see a fertility specialist in less than a week, and started treatment one month after we decided to go for it. I will also only have to go thru the horrible hormonal rollercoaster once. The hardest part of the shots so far? Arranging to get them every day between 9-10 am and pm. It’s like working a job with a time punch card.
I would be terrified of putting in 3-4, too. If you haven’t yet, you should probably start thinking about what you will do if you get 3 or 4 that take. Twins are relatively simple compared to quads.
I remember BeAGoodMom nearly falling down right after one of the shots with the twins. Fortunately that only happened the one time. I must have done something wrong that time.
I really love the European system of storing the embryos individually. If a family wants to put more than one in at a time, that’s between them and the doctor but people that only want to use one at a time shouldn’t have to waste one just because they are stored in pairs. That’s just stupid.
We took a week long cruise during the IVF cycle where Giggles was conceived and had to get the shots onto the ship and remember to take them every day. That was a bit awkward a couple times.
Good luck with everything.