Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a mother of twins I would STRONGLY advise you to transfer one at a time.

You are so young - just have one baby at a time.

Good luck!

Why?

Not PP, but a twin mom here. The risks are higher for both mother and babies. For example, miscarriages are more likely and the risk stays high for a longer portion of the pregnancy, complications for the mother are likelier, and complications for the babies (if they make it) are more frequent. I had a twin pregnancy following IVF that involved several weeks of heavy SCH bleeding, followed by pre-E that compromised my kidney function and collapsed a lung, and ended with giving birth 5 weeks early, a two-week NICU stay, and one baby who likely will be "behind" for life.

Just to spell out things more clearly. Higher risk is still pretty low, e.g. with singletons, it's 0.1% of X condition, with twins it's 0.4%. Not 40 % of all twins. For people who undergo infertility treatments and IVF the risk is inherently higher. You can have a miscarriage or SCH even with a singleton, twins dont directly cause collapsed lungs and kidney shutdowns. Chances are your health was compromised to start with.

There are now studies which show that the combined risk from 2 singleton pregnancies (same person having 1st then 2nd child) is about the same as from 1 twin pregnancy.

Then why are clinics pushing SETs so heavily if there is no difference? At least concede that twins generally are born earlier, which carries attendant issues, right?

Anonymous wrote:Twin mom here - who tells anyone who asks that I would far rather have had one at a time.

I had a reasonably good pregnancy (in my mid 40's so all the AMA risk factors) a planned, calm delivery at 37 weeks, two healthy 6lb+ babies, an easy c-section recovery, etc...

But two babies at once is hard, hard work. Two toddlers is hard, hard work. Two preschoolers is hard, hard work. Etc...

And it is also very hard on a marriage. And I never feel like I'm giving each child as much individual time as I'd like to, or that I have time to do all the fun little things (baby books, handprints, video/photography, crafts, mommy and me stuff, swimming lessons, .....) as I'd like or hoped to do.

It can be done, certainly. And I'm testament to being able to do it late in life and still be healthy, and have healthy babies. But it is tough. I would have loved to have had the exact same kids a couple of years apart.

I agree that the newborn to about age 3 is very challenging with twins, but I feel that after that point it is easier. Having 2 children who are the same age developmentally and therefore have similar needs, just streamlines everything. For example, since my 6 year old daughters have similar nutritional requirements, I make them the same meals. They have similar developmental issues so I don't need to juggle the needs of two children who have a completely different set of needs (like a preschooler and an infant for example)which I would find more challenging. I can take my daughters to doctors and dentist appointments at the same time, they learned to swim together in the same class, and although they are in different classes at school but are learning the same things and have the same homework assignments and projects. Most of all, the keep each other entertained for so long that sometimes I even feel neglected!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a mother of twins I would STRONGLY advise you to transfer one at a time.

You are so young - just have one baby at a time.

Good luck!

Why?

Not PP, but a twin mom here. The risks are higher for both mother and babies. For example, miscarriages are more likely and the risk stays high for a longer portion of the pregnancy, complications for the mother are likelier, and complications for the babies (if they make it) are more frequent. I had a twin pregnancy following IVF that involved several weeks of heavy SCH bleeding, followed by pre-E that compromised my kidney function and collapsed a lung, and ended with giving birth 5 weeks early, a two-week NICU stay, and one baby who likely will be "behind" for life.

Just to spell out things more clearly. Higher risk is still pretty low, e.g. with singletons, it's 0.1% of X condition, with twins it's 0.4%. Not 40 % of all twins. For people who undergo infertility treatments and IVF the risk is inherently higher. You can have a miscarriage or SCH even with a singleton, twins dont directly cause collapsed lungs and kidney shutdowns. Chances are your health was compromised to start with.

There are now studies which show that the combined risk from 2 singleton pregnancies (same person having 1st then 2nd child) is about the same as from 1 twin pregnancy.

Twin mom here - who tells anyone who asks that I would far rather have had one at a time.

I had a reasonably good pregnancy (in my mid 40's so all the AMA risk factors) a planned, calm delivery at 37 weeks, two healthy 6lb+ babies, an easy c-section recovery, etc...

But two babies at once is hard, hard work. Two toddlers is hard, hard work. Two preschoolers is hard, hard work. Etc...

And it is also very hard on a marriage. And I never feel like I'm giving each child as much individual time as I'd like to, or that I have time to do all the fun little things (baby books, handprints, video/photography, crafts, mommy and me stuff, swimming lessons, .....) as I'd like or hoped to do.

It can be done, certainly. And I'm testament to being able to do it late in life and still be healthy, and have healthy babies. But it is tough. I would have loved to have had the exact same kids a couple of years apart.

I just also wanted to share a more positive twin story. I had twins following several years of infertility and I was lucky to have a complication free pregnancy. My daughters were born a few days shy of 37 weeks, needed no NICU time, and are now thriving 6 year olds. Of course, I was scared to death of all the possible twin related complications throughout my pregnancy with them, but luckily everything turned out fine.

I did IVF with genetic screening at 41. My doctor strongly recommended transferring two high quality, normal embryos based on my age. I pushed back because I was nervous about the risks associated with trying to carry twins. I also did not want to squander embryos in the event that the stars were not going to be aligned in a particular cycle for reasons other than the quality of the embryo. It is my understanding that pregnancy rates are slightly higher when two are transferred, but not double the rates when one is transferred.

My doctor persisted in pushing me to transfer two, even questioning my judgment at the moment of transfer. He eventually conceded that twins have something like 5x the rate of cerebral palsy and other major complications relative to singletons. After the stress of IVF, I really wanted to avoid being stressed throughout my entire pregnancies, so that was all I needed to hear.

Ultimately, both my attempted E-SETs produced healthy, term singletons.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a mother of twins I would STRONGLY advise you to transfer one at a time.

You are so young - just have one baby at a time.

Good luck!

Why?

Not PP, but a twin mom here. The risks are higher for both mother and babies. For example, miscarriages are more likely and the risk stays high for a longer portion of the pregnancy, complications for the mother are likelier, and complications for the babies (if they make it) are more frequent. I had a twin pregnancy following IVF that involved several weeks of heavy SCH bleeding, followed by pre-E that compromised my kidney function and collapsed a lung, and ended with giving birth 5 weeks early, a two-week NICU stay, and one baby who likely will be "behind" for life.

Anonymous wrote:As a mother of twins I would STRONGLY advise you to transfer one at a time.

You are so young - just have one baby at a time.

Good luck!

Why?

As a mother of twins I would STRONGLY advise you to transfer one at a time.

You are so young - just have one baby at a time.

Good luck!

I would definitely do one at a time in your situation, but I've only had success transferring two. I had a singleton once and twins the second time I transferred two. I had more than 5 failed single transfers in between. It makes no sense to me why this was the case.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, whats your age and diagnosis?

32 and unexplained/male factor.

I was 34 and unexplained and did a SET and it worked, first try. But I ended up with twins (identical) anyway. It's rare, but can happen. Shock of my life...and best thing that ever happened to me. Good luck OP!

I was successful - not with the fresh but with the frozen from my one and only cycle. My eggs were taken out at the tail end of 40 and the blast put in at 41. My doctor went over the options and strongly suggestion putting one in one (I had two recurrent miscarriages prior).

I opted for single and was successful. Only 5 eggs harvested, 2 embryos were available but I really didn't want twins.

Anonymous wrote:Your age is in your favor. Good luck! I also had one embryo transferred and successfully carried to term at age 37. My first and only successful pregnancy.

Thank you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, whats your age and diagnosis?

32 and unexplained/male factor.

Oh yeah, you should be a great candidate for single embryo transfer then. I would be surprised if that isn't your doctor's recommendation, especially if you're at Shady Grove.