So, I follow numerous infertility support-type groups on Facebook and one of them posed an interesting question today regarding multiple embryo transfer for IVF; asking people how many they would opt for or how many they have opted for. Most people have went with the one or the two and it seemed like many of them have had or are in the middle of successful pregnancies. The hubs and I have talked about it a little bit and decided that two would be a good number as it might up the odds of one of them successfully implanting or if both of them took that would be awesome as well.
Since we haven’t started the IVF process yet with our doctor I’m not sure what the maximum number of embryos he would transfer would be, I would imagine he would do one or two but maybe three in unusual cases. If our case was deemed unusual for any reason it made me wonder if we would consider going with three embryos. Don’t get me wrong, I have no desire to be the next octomom – I just keep playing the statistics in my head and our crappy luck that we have had so far in regards to getting and staying pregnant. IF three would give us a better chance at ending up pregnant I could possibly be all for it. But then what if they all took and then on top of that they all magically split so I there ended up six babies, I can’t even fathom that. Just like there is always a percentage of a chance for a positive pregnancy test there is also a percentage of a chance (no matter how small) that the splitting and super multiples would happen. When the hubs and I were having our IUI’s on our third round I had something like 7 mature follicles – the doctor warned us of the risks but we went ahead, of course not a single one of them took and we ended up with a BFN, but there was still that chance. The hubs and I have spoke some about selective reduction and I told him that I couldn’t do it – as pro-choice as I am I just would never bring myself to be able to do that, we are fighting tooth and nail to have a family why would I turn my back on what we end up with. So this brings me back to the initial question – how many is too many, when does trying to up the odds just turn into foolishness? As of today if we started IVF and the doctor said “sure I’ll implant three embryos” – would we do it? Perhaps this is all wishful thinking, perhaps I should just be thinking “please, let there be one or even two good ones – and please let one of them stick”. I should be thinking that, but my mind is constantly going – constantly trying to work out all the angles, all the chances, all the percentages no matter how slight they might be. All I know is that at the end of all of this I just want a child, I want our family to grow and I’ll do what I have to do to make that happen.
Why Not Us? 