When you are sitting in the Fertility Clinic waiting to see the Doctor, they might have a book of photographs for you view.  These are of families and babies that have been born thanks to the assistance of the clinic.  And when I say babies, I mean babies:  Twins, Triplets, and possibly higher multiples.  I think that this made my husband sweat a little bit, especially as our journey led us closer and closer to Intrauterine Insemination and then on to a successful IVF procedure.  You know that it is a possibility any time you consider In Vitro Fertilization or any other type of Fertility Treatment, yet it really is something you need to discuss before starting the procedure.

Most clinics will put in a certain amount embryos based on your age, embryo quality and the amount of eggs that fertilize.  For instance, as a general rule, they will put in two embryos if you are under 35 years old and three if you are over 35 years old.  If your embryo quality is not great, they might put in three embryos even if you are under 35 years of age.

Embryo quality is based on a number of factors, specifically at what rate the cells are splitting and what the embryo looks like as it grows.  Many clinics grade them as A, B, C, etc. and will not put in embryos that are less than a C as they have a very low chance of taking.  However, the clinic might give you an option of putting in poorer quality embryos, especially if you don’t have any embryos that are above a D grade.  In the end, the choice is up to you, but most clinics will give you their personal recommendation based on past success experience.  If you don’t have any embryos graded A or B, they might put in up to four embryos.

The amount of eggs you have that fertilize and that are a good quality also influences the amount of embryos that they place in you during In Vitro fertilization.  If you have only four good, quality embryos, there is no point in freezing just one as they might or might not make it when they are thawed.  At that point, you will have to decide how many embryos you want to use.

Keep in mind; this is all a general rule.  Some clinics put in four, five, six and even seven embryos no matter what.  This puts a greater risk for the mother and for the babies, as the higher the multiples the higher risk the pregnancy is.  It is a personal choice and you really have to weigh the pros and cons and decide what is best for your family.

It is recommended that you take all of this into consideration and discuss it with your spouse before beginning any procedure.  It is a highly emotionally charged time and the more you discuss up front, the more answers you will have as you are faced with various questions.  Everyone’s In Vitro Fertilization procedure is different and, if you have to do more than one round, chances are each round that you do will be different, so the more you discuss ahead of time, the less pressure you will feel when the time comes to make these decisions.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 5th, 2006 at 4:40 am and is filed under Fertility. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.