Why I decided on 2 embryos on transfer day

I will start this blog by saying if you know me you will know that I don’t like secrets, I don’t like surprises and I’m not patient. That being said after years of struggling, years of treatments, 4 cycles and so many surgeries between transfers I’ve come to terms with the word patience.

So the big question was do we want to transfer one or two embryos out of the four that we had genetically screened at Harley Street Fertility Clinic? My biggest regret from my last cycle in August 2019 was not listening to my gut with a different clinic and not transferring both embryos that we had left. (I still have one embryo remaining at another clinic) I feel awful about leaving the one little embryo all on his own. I always think what If I transferred both back, would I have carried to full term?

For me it was a straightforward decision. I wanted two, my gut said two and Doctor Venkat was on the same page as me. She said she usually always recommends one embryo, when they have been genetically tested. However, from her medical experience she was going to advise us on two to be transferred due to my circumstances from miscarrying.

Alex on the other hand was a little scared of the idea of twins, and being a much more patient person than me he didn’t want to jump the gun by transferring two embryos on our very first frozen embryo transfer with this clinic. But after speaking to Doctor Venkat and listening he came to terms with the idea and supported the choice that we made.

So on the day of my first frozen embryo transfer with Harley Street Fertility Clinic I was so alone, I woke up alone in bed and had a cry, I’m isolating away from the world and Alex and I just felt like I was doing this all by myself and had a little emotional wobble. I remember sitting on the sofa having a cup of tea and my phone rang super early in the morning from my fairy god mother Doctor Venkat, I automatically panicked that maybe an emergency happened and my treatment was cancelled, bless her, she just wanted to call me to make sure I was ok as I was doing it alone and told me how today was going to be a beautiful and magical day. I actually adore her, hearing her voice made everything ok, not many doctors go above and beyond like that.

So I drove up to a clinic on Wimpole Street that took my bloods to check my progesterone levels prior to transfer and then made my way to Harley Street Fertility Clinic for some acupuncture prior to transfer. Unfortunately I had some very bad news, I had a call from the embryologist on my drive up to the clinic who had told me that one of the embryos that they thawed hadn’t made it and would I like to to thaw another one. I automatically said yes please thaw another, both myself and Doctor Venkat said two embryos and that’s what I planned on having transferred back.

So many people on Instagram ask me about whether I would recommend transferring one or two embryos, honestly my advice would be to talk to your doctor and your partner and always listen to your gut. Do your research on multiple pregnancy. For me I know I could handle twins and how amazing to have two babies at once after 7 years of heart ache on this infertility battle. With two comes a possible high-risk pregnancy from low-birth weight and premature babies. But then I can argue that I had two embryos transferred on my very first cycle and I only ended up with one heart beat. Only one embryo took. It is a risk but it would have been a risk either way, I’m mature and responsible enough to cope and I know in my heart of hearts I’ve made the correct choice.

This really is a individual choice. Good luck ladies what ever you decide to do I know it will be the right choice for you

Love and light

N

XoXo