As mentioned earlier, I adore the Gosselin children. They really are adorable, but to be honest- the thought of having eight kids is nothing short of terrifying, especially having six at once. Insanity.
So all this adoration of other-people's-kids got me thinking about multiples. Prudence and I will more likely than not be jumping right onto the IVF wagon since we really want to use her eggs and my uterus. She's not too keen on the idea of being preggo (whereas I really want to get knocked up) and we agree it would be incredible for our children to have both our genes. So if all goes well, our future children will be conceived in a petri dish with my brother's sperm and Pru's eggs. And while that sounds fun and fancy (and admittedly, kinda weird) written down, I know it will be a bumpy and complicated process. I also know that IVF has a much higher rate of multiples. Enter mild (and premature) panic attack.
When discussing the possibilities of multiples, Pru said very calmly, "I bet we'll have triplets." Umm, what? I asked her to elaborate and she just replied, "I dunno....its just a feeling I have- that when we get pregnant, we'll have triplets." I don't know how accurate her instincts are, but thats a scary thought. I'd love three kids. But not at once. Twins, maybe. But triplets? That sounds dangerous. I already have an overload of pregnancy anxiety, I can't even imagine how that would skyrocket with the discovery of multiples floating around in there.
From what I understand about recent developments in IVF, doctors are beginning to veer away from the idea of transferring a lot of embryos, specifically in women under 35 (like me). I've also read about minimal stimulation IVF (or just Mini-IVF) which requires less drugs (and sometimes none if you go the "natural" route) and decreases the risk of multiples. Apparently its more along the lines of natural ovulation, where they start by giving you a C.lomid pill to take for about a week (they don't suppress the pituitary beforehand with Lup.ron like normal IVF) followed by a "booster" of gonado.tropin and then they retrieve a few high-quality eggs. And as an added bonus, its also several thousand dollars cheaper.
The pros are obvious: less drugs, money, and risk. The cons are also pretty obvious: its newer, so the success rate is probably still not clear; plus you run into the issue of not having extra embryos if it doesn't work. In the long run, it could potentially cost more to do the "cheaper" ivf. On the other hand, if you don't have any problems with ovulating or getting those embryos to stick, you might hit the baby jackpot right away and be $10,000 richer for it. Hmmm.... what a conundrum.
my two cents (and also what i've done): do normal stim, hope you end up with plenty of embryos. freeze most of them. put one in at a time. you're slightly more likely than average to end up with identical twins, but still not at all likely. and definitely not triplets.
ReplyDeletesingle-embryo transfer does have a lower pregnancy rate, of course (although, depending on other factors, it's not that much lower), but there's where your frozens come in. our thought was that it was worth it to avoid multiples (which can be great but scared us).
Yeah thats a good point...even if we did a several-egg retrieval, we could still only transfer one and then (if necessary), do FET down the line. Thanks for the advice!
ReplyDeleteWe transferred 2 each time and Tam is freaking out about twins right now and wishing we'd done a single embryo transfer. We have 5 embryos left so that's probably what we'll try in the future. I like Baby's advice.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I have acquaintances who transferred 3 (which I think is crazy) and ended up with twins.
If multiples are a major concern, I would definitely go with Bionic's plan. We transferred 2 embryos and ended up with 3 baby boys. As for identicals, both assisted hatching (which we did not do) and ICSI (which we did) can raise the odds for embryo splitting. Something to keep in mind.
ReplyDeleteAs for us, we were truly hoping for twins when we chose to transfer 2 embryos. I never considered that we'd end up with triplets. I nearly went into shock with the discovery of the 3rd baby on our 6th ultrasound. That being said, I couldn't imagine not having them now. It's our "normal" and I wouldn't have it any other way. :)
Up to twins, multiples are not a major concern. Its really triplets+ that scares me.
ReplyDelete@ Robbie: If, like you and Trina, we transferred 2 embryos and ended up with triplets, I'd be shocked of course, but I'd also know that it was something to be shocked about. But the idea of transferring 3 just for the sake of increasing the odds of one (or two) sticking, but also knowingly increasing the odds of triplets seems...I dunno, irresponsible?
With that being said, following you guys along your journey has been like witness a miracle- I truly cannot believe how well Trina has done! You two are my pregnancy heroines! :)
I think if triplets+ didn't scare you, you may need to have your head examined. :) We were scared shitless when we found out about our trio. Hell, there are still times when it hits me, but not as often or as strongly. I have found an amazing support group so it all just seems doable now. A lot of my earlier fears also revolved around micro preemies and long term issues caused by severely shortened gestation. Since Trina is a freaking rockstar, those fears have subsided. :)
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