(no subject)

[ste_noni]

I read this article this morning while waiting for Frisco to fall back asleep. Basically, it says that IVF is now so "successful" that many doctors are encouraging women to transfer less embryos in order to reduce the rate of multiple births. It got me thinking - I read a lot of infertility blogs (leftover from my own struggle to have a child) although I think everyone of them now has a child. I think all those children were conceived through IVF. Sadly, of the 5-6 blogs I read regularly, two women lost a set of twins each, one woman came close to dying and losing her baby due to a placental abruption, and another woman lost multiple pregnancies. Of the babies who did survive, all spent time in the NICU (some longer than others). All these women now have children at home (and actually only one had a singleton) but those children came at a very high cost - both emotionally and financially. Of course, I haven't asked them, but I'm not sure they would agree that IVF is now "too successful." (Although now that I think about it, I guess that's what the article is saying - that transfer rates are successful and this actually causes complications.) Still, if it were me, I can't imagine going through all the stress, injections, and expense, only to transfer one embryo.

Comments

[vwbug.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow. I don't have a lot of experience with this stuff, but that does seem awfully premature.

It's so good to see your pixels!

[ste-noni.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It's good to be getting back to regular life. I hope you are getting back to regular life, too!

[vwbug.livejournal.com]

Gonna try that right about now. We'll see how it turns out :).

Have a good day, you.

[casperflea.livejournal.com]

I can't imagine doing IVF at all, but think of it this way. What if you were told that if you transfer only one embryo, you have a 20% chance of needing another round of IVF. But if you transfer 3, you have a 10% chance of losing a set of twins at 20 weeks gestation. (I am making up the numbers.) I know which chances I'd pick.

[(Anonymous)]

Having been through a miscarriage at 12 weeks, and seen what it did to me, I'd be scared (and was with both E and F) to death of a later loss. So, yeah, I'd prefer to do IVF a second time. But I do wonder if the equation looks different before you've had kids.

[ste-noni.livejournal.com]

that was me

[casperflea.livejournal.com]

Having read the article now, I was shocked by the woman who lost her triplet-then-twin pregnancy and still thinks she made the right choice. Mainly - at least they made her seem that way - because she thinks twins are cute?? I think the article did itself a disservice by not being frank about the actual statistical risks. I read this book: http://www.librarything.com/work/2510118/book/16405332 which seems to have sound numbers, and it really made me a believer in single embryo transfer for younger women. I like that idea (in the article) of doing one retrieval and getting a second transfer chance if the first doesn't work.

[ste-noni.livejournal.com]

Yeah, she seemed pretty blithe about it. I wonder how much of that is cognitive dissonance.

I forget who it was but one woman whose blog I was reading was contemplating frozen transfer and it did seem to be much much cheaper (although less successful, I think).

Oh, I meant to tell you - Frisco wore the little green Hannah pants and yellow jacket the other day. They looked so cute on him!

[fiorituranotte.livejournal.com]

It does see like an awful lot of work and money to only implant one embryo, not to mention the emotional expense. I have a cousin that did IVF. It was completely unsuccessful the first time, she lost a set of twins right in the beginning on her second try, and on her third try she had a full term healthy baby, no NICU required.

[pix-kristin.livejournal.com]

Man, I hear you. I have had the same conversation in my head many times. It's kind of moot now since it doesn't look like I'm going to even try again, but I have serious doubts that I would try IVF if I did. I also know people who suffered tremendously throughout the process for many of the reasons you mentioned, and I also can't quite wrap my head around the fact that it can cost up to $25K each time you try--and with no insurance to back that up, that's just not going to happen.

[mearagrrl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was about to say--it's one thing to be all for single transfer, but the COSTS.....