Genesis Fertility Clinic Blog
searching: “multiple pregnancy”
April 17, 2009
Octomom
What are the risks of a multiple pregnancy?
The issue of multiple births has grabbed the headlines ever since the 33 year old “Octomum” gave birth to octuplets as a result of IVF. With the media frenzy over this event, reality TV shows like Jon and Kate Plus Eight, and ever more triplet strollers swerving down our streets it seems there is an epidemic of multiple pregnancies.
For many of the couples I meet in my practice a multiple pregnancy seems desirable. Often they have been struggling for years to get pregnant and the possibility of having more than one child at a time looks like the ideal way to get the family they have been longing for.
I understand this desire, but my goal is not just to help my patient get pregnant but to do everything possible to ensure that she has a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby to take home.
While multiple pregnancies seem like the new normal in fact Mother Nature has created women to have just one baby at a time: any more than that poses a significant risk to mom and babies.
For the mom there is an increase chance of high blood pressure, diabetes, premature birth, need for hospitalization in pregnancy, heavy bleeding at the time of delivery and more. For the babies, even twins, there is a higher risk of premature birth, cerebral palsy, respiratory diseases, blindness, deafness and death as compared to singleton pregnancies.
We’ve made advances in IVF/ICSI that allow us to transfer fewer embryos (thus avoiding the risks of multiple pregnancy) with an ever greater success rate. Using these protocols and procedures in our new lab, we are seeing success rates of 70% and higher in certain patient groups.
Of course there is no one size fits all formula for how many embryo’s to transfer —each woman’s situation is different. I encourage every woman to talk this over with her doctor.
In response to the health risks posed by multiple pregnancies governments in Canada, several European countries and several states in the USA are developing legislation that will legally limit the number of embryos clinics can put into a woman. This will hopefully mean fewer sick moms and sick babies from multiple pregnancies in the future.
Dr. Beth Taylor, MD, FRCSC
Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility