Donor eggs: How many embryos to transfer

[Anonymous]

I am 36 (soon to be 37) and have been TTC for 4 years. Have had 4 IUI's, 4 IVF's (2 that never went to egg retrieval due to poor response). I have had 2 chemical pregnancies from the IUI's.

We are going thru our first donor egg cycle. Our donor rocks. She had 30 eggs retrieved (we only get half as we are sharing with another recipient.) 10 were mature and fertilized and are growing nicely as of day 2.

Any thoughts on how many we should transfer? One or two? (I don't think our RE would allow more than that with donor eggs.)

[Anonymous]

A big factor would be your donor's age.

[Anonymous]

Our donor is 24 years old.

[Anonymous]

If most make it to the blastocyst stage, and you aren't comfortable with twins, I would consider single embryo.

[Anonymous]

I would transfer one as well, assuming they look good. Your odds of success are very good and twins bring a lot of complications and risks. Also, you will hopefully have embryos to freeze if this cycle doesn't work. My fingers are crossed for you!!!

[Anonymous]

I was in a similar situation. 37 at the time with many failed iui and ivf cycles. We also had a 24 year old donor who produced 20 eggs to be shared. I ended up having 2 put back and for about 5 seconds we were having twins. We ended up with one healthy little girl and 3 embryo's on ice.

[Anonymous]

PP - I meant to say Good Luck!

[Anonymous]

Definitely, no more than one embryo transfer. I know there are lot of stories about multiple births, but it's not the norm. Having twins automatically puts you in high risk category. Potential danger to mother and babies, pre-term birth, baby in NICU for months, chance of insurance not paying for the NICU Costs ($500k or more) and having disabled babies. If you find any doctor that's willing to do more than one embryo transfer, especially with a donor egg from 24 y.o., my advise is to RUN.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for all of the input. They called today and said we had two "front-runners" and will likely have a day 3 transfer. My RE recommended transferring 2 if it's a day 3 but just 1 if it's a day 5 transfer. I was hoping for a day 5. They said we could get a call tomorrow morning if they decide to change it to a day 5. Keeping my fingers crossed. Plan to go ahead with the REs advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all of the input. They called today and said we had two "front-runners" and will likely have a day 3 transfer. My RE recommended transferring 2 if it's a day 3 but just 1 if it's a day 5 transfer. I was hoping for a day 5. They said we could get a call tomorrow morning if they decide to change it to a day 5. Keeping my fingers crossed. Plan to go ahead with the REs advice.

OP, this sounds reasonable. I had a day 3, one took. Healthy baby boy. I wish you the same luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all of the input. They called today and said we had two "front-runners" and will likely have a day 3 transfer. My RE recommended transferring 2 if it's a day 3 but just 1 if it's a day 5 transfer. I was hoping for a day 5. They said we could get a call tomorrow morning if they decide to change it to a day 5. Keeping my fingers crossed. Plan to go ahead with the REs advice.

wise move!!! I'm 40 and transfered my own 5 single blast (froze the other 4 blasts) ang got pregnant with my 4 month old girl.

[Anonymous]

OP here. They moved us to a day 5 transfer. Thanks for everyone's well wishes.