Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will be transferring 2 untested donor embryos next week. I started with 3 donor embryos and transferred one in August but it failed. When I was working with my own eggs, I had had an ERA and got pregnant afterwards so we know the protocol works. A 4th embryo from this cohort had resulted in a live birth for another family and my RE said that means other embryos in the cohort can be expected to work.

My clinic charges me for each donor transfer cycle so I just wanted to put these both back and move on. One is graded AA and the other AB and they were not PGS tested; my RE says bc they were created from a young, healthy donor even AB graded embryo has a good chance to work. I was mildly surprised they said OK to transferring both after the first failed but I have been through the wringer over the past 2 and a half years with them.

AB is still a high grade

Yes it is high and we will see what happens. I have been through: 2 miscarriages, 2 chemicals, 4 other transfers of blasts that did not take, OE transfers had 2/3 blasts each time and 1 donor embryo blast. I think at this point they consider me a v tough case and they are willing to put both back my outlook is not favorable.

Anonymous wrote:I will be transferring 2 untested donor embryos next week. I started with 3 donor embryos and transferred one in August but it failed. When I was working with my own eggs, I had had an ERA and got pregnant afterwards so we know the protocol works. A 4th embryo from this cohort had resulted in a live birth for another family and my RE said that means other embryos in the cohort can be expected to work.

My clinic charges me for each donor transfer cycle so I just wanted to put these both back and move on. One is graded AA and the other AB and they were not PGS tested; my RE says bc they were created from a young, healthy donor even AB graded embryo has a good chance to work. I was mildly surprised they said OK to transferring both after the first failed but I have been through the wringer over the past 2 and a half years with them.

AB is still a high grade

My RE transferred 4 very healthy blasts and the result was twins. I agree there are many issues with twins however we had tried and failed many times. We were also at the end of our finances. The pregnancy was not fun but I wouldn’t have done another pregnancy anyway. Overall this was s good result for us. You can’t plan what will happen. We could have had one, or none, or planned for children more spaced apart. That seems to work better when you don’t have infertility.

Anonymous wrote:Twin IVF mom here. I think it’s very easy for us to say oh no don’t do 2. Twins are hard and riskier etc.

However I remember being in your spot. 10 years of fertility issues here and 4 rounds of IVF. 3 single embryo transfers and 1 PGS tested - nothing.

Running out of insurance coverage and just a gut feeling lead me to insist on doing a 3 day fresh transfer. My RE said 2-3 transferred. I went with 3. Have twins. While I’m very glad I didn’t have triplets ( I’d never transfer 3 or even 2 again ) I’m glad I did it.

I’d try 2. ...but not 3.

NP, I am 40+ I have done many cycles of transferring more than 1, all untested.

First cycle only 3 fertilized, they transferred 2 on day-3, I got pregnant with 1 but miscarried. The last one didnt make it to blast.
Second and Third retrievals I got a total of 9 blasts.. They transferred 2 blasts at a time over 2 fresh transfers and 1 FET. Not preg. on all.
Then an ERA showed the window was off.
My last FET they transferred all 3 to spare me the time/$$ of a second FET. I got pregnant with 1, again miscarriage.

Here is an article in fertility and sterility; the table on page 2 details guidelines by age and outcome favorability: https://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(17)30227-3/pdf
If its a known PGS normal they will not transfer more than 1.
For older folks, even favorable, they are okay with transferring higher numbers.
Once you have had miscarriage or failed cycles at any age they may do more than 1. https://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(17)30227-3/pdf

I transferred one untested embryo. It split and now I’m having twins. If I’d transferred two and the split happened, it would be triplets. Personally, I would never ever transfer two.

The reason to transfer more than one is because even in young healthy women, only half of embryos are genetically normal. With PGS you get around that and there aren’t many good reasons to transfer more than 1 pgs normal. I know it’s hard when transfers fail, but I don’t think transferring 2 is the answer. If there is a reason the transfers failed other than bad luck, the PP is right that you’d just be wasting 2.

Anonymous wrote: I did three IVF cycles and transferred two embryos each time. I was 37-38 during this time. I had success on the third round, with only one taking. From what I understand, transferring a second one very slightly improves your chances. So long as you are truly really OK with the possibility of multiples, it certainly is worth a try. Of course, multiples can happen from just one embryo, so you need to consider the fact that you could also have higher order multiples. A small chance, but certainly a reasonable possibility, especially with PGS tested normal embryos. Good luck!

It's not about being OK with full-term, healthy multiples. That's really your best-case scenario. There are many others. Complications for you. Complications for the baby, or the babies. And the risk that you will end up with none, or a very real medical emergency. One at a time is much safer for you and the baby.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I did three IVF cycles and transferred two embryos each time. I was 37-38 during this time. I had success on the third round, with only one taking. From what I understand, transferring a second one very slightly improves your chances. So long as you are truly really OK with the possibility of multiples, it certainly is worth a try. Of course, multiples can happen from just one embryo, so you need to consider the fact that you could also have higher order multiples. A small chance, but certainly a reasonable possibility, especially with PGS tested normal embryos. Good luck!

were yours pgs tested too?

They were not. I had treatment done overseas where testing is illegal.

I will be transferring 2 untested donor embryos next week. I started with 3 donor embryos and transferred one in August but it failed. When I was working with my own eggs, I had had an ERA and got pregnant afterwards so we know the protocol works. A 4th embryo from this cohort had resulted in a live birth for another family and my RE said that means other embryos in the cohort can be expected to work.

My clinic charges me for each donor transfer cycle so I just wanted to put these both back and move on. One is graded AA and the other AB and they were not PGS tested; my RE says bc they were created from a young, healthy donor even AB graded embryo has a good chance to work. I was mildly surprised they said OK to transferring both after the first failed but I have been through the wringer over the past 2 and a half years with them.

Anonymous wrote:Twin IVF mom here. I think it’s very easy for us to say oh no don’t do 2. Twins are hard and riskier etc.

However I remember being in your spot. 10 years of fertility issues here and 4 rounds of IVF. 3 single embryo transfers and 1 PGS tested - nothing.

Running out of insurance coverage and just a gut feeling lead me to insist on doing a 3 day fresh transfer. My RE said 2-3 transferred. I went with 3. Have twins. While I’m very glad I didn’t have triplets ( I’d never transfer 3 or even 2 again ) I’m glad I did it.

I’d try 2. ...but not 3.

day 3 or 5 embryos? tested or not?

Twin IVF mom here. I think it’s very easy for us to say oh no don’t do 2. Twins are hard and riskier etc.

However I remember being in your spot. 10 years of fertility issues here and 4 rounds of IVF. 3 single embryo transfers and 1 PGS tested - nothing.

Running out of insurance coverage and just a gut feeling lead me to insist on doing a 3 day fresh transfer. My RE said 2-3 transferred. I went with 3. Have twins. While I’m very glad I didn’t have triplets ( I’d never transfer 3 or even 2 again ) I’m glad I did it.

I’d try 2. ...but not 3.

Anonymous wrote: I did three IVF cycles and transferred two embryos each time. I was 37-38 during this time. I had success on the third round, with only one taking. From what I understand, transferring a second one very slightly improves your chances. So long as you are truly really OK with the possibility of multiples, it certainly is worth a try. Of course, multiples can happen from just one embryo, so you need to consider the fact that you could also have higher order multiples. A small chance, but certainly a reasonable possibility, especially with PGS tested normal embryos. Good luck!

were yours pgs tested too?

I did three IVF cycles and transferred two embryos each time. I was 37-38 during this time. I had success on the third round, with only one taking. From what I understand, transferring a second one very slightly improves your chances. So long as you are truly really OK with the possibility of multiples, it certainly is worth a try. Of course, multiples can happen from just one embryo, so you need to consider the fact that you could also have higher order multiples. A small chance, but certainly a reasonable possibility, especially with PGS tested normal embryos. Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd try everything else to improve implantation before possibly transferring two. If there is another underlying issue, you'll be wasting two embryos at once. And since they're PGS tested, it seems like the issue shouldn't be with the embryos, but something with the uterine environment. My previous clinic associated with CCRM threw all kinds of things at my transfer that SGF didnt- an antibiotic, steroid, and baby aspirin. Might be worth asking your doctor about adding something like that first. Also, have you done an ERA? I know some people think it helps a lot. I've also have heard of people getting pregnant naturally after their ERA, potentially because it acted like an endometrial scratch, as the PP above mentioned.

OP here. Good thoughts and very helpful. I have not done an ERA so I'll look into it. We went though the extra steps of the PGS testing in hopes of decreasing the chance of failed transfers, misscarriage
It's so frustrating how the answers after these things are still, "It could be this, could be that, not really sure...." ughhh

Thanks for all the tips and help!

I kept having chemicals or negatives with PGS embryos. Did the ERA and got pregnant. She’s 3.5 now!

Re: implantation. I’m the poster from 20:05 yesterday whose doctor did an endometrial scratch (it was during the egg retrieval, so I have no idea of the level of discomfort since I was knocked out). Back to say that I totally forgot to add yesterday that the RE put me on steroids, too, in an effort to encourage implantation. Apparently - thanks to rip-roaring endometriosis - I have a lot of free fluid sloshing around in my pelvis at baseline, that she said contains “cytokines & inflammatory cells.” She was worried that the inflammatory milieu could adversely impact implantation, and tried to tamp it down with steroids before the transfer. Best wishes & I will be thinking good thoughts for you!