sextuplets

Anybody have an update on the remaining 22wkrs?

Folks, as an infertility patient, I can tell you that a doc going through with an IUI after seeing 14 follicles on ultrasound is NOT typical. Quite irresponsible, in fact. Most will cancel a cycle if they feel there are too many eggs. Most refuse to put more than 2 embryos back during IVF because of the risk of high order multiples. Many of the infertile women I've met, friends, through support groups, and in the world of infertility blogs, have experienced canceled IUI cycles at least once during treatment because of too many follicles. It's the docs we all should be shaking our fingers at, not the patients. The purpose of monitoring while using the stronger injectable meds is to avoid such situations.

We "greedy" infertiles just want what most women do- a happy healthy child to share our lives with. If we have an endocrine disorder or a hormonal imbalance or a blood clotting issue that makes us miscarry every child we create, we deserve medical treatment just like for any other medical disorder.

Interested in understanding more about the grief we have in not being able to conceive a child easily? A great website is http://www.resolve.org. The pages for friends and family are very informative.

According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, a third 22-week sextuplet has died.

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1250380.html

Unable to access the above link..but how sad for the family..

Although..I'd be suprised if any of them make it..they are too little. 22 weeks is barely viable for a single pregnancy, let alone sextuplets..

She wasn't infertile, she had been pregnant twice and miscarried twice.

Good grief. If she did ART just based on that, maybe a little more patience and she'd be pregnant on her own with a singleton rather than a litter.

Personally speaking, I've had two prior miscarriages, and a year after the second miscarriage, I'm pregnant with a singleton. All appears to be healthy so far (asking for prayers and keeping fingers and toes crossed for that) and I'm 40. If she did it for age reasons, she had plenty of time.

While we don't know the specifics here, I'm really surprised that someone did IUI just based on two prior miscarriages alone. I wonder if they did any further testing and what it revealed? It sounds like they really possibly jumped the gun here by doing IUI.

Something about the husband really rubs me wrong. They've been asking for donations all along, including a high end car, and now they want the hospital to write off the bill? :angryfire Did they not think what could happen going ahead with an IUI with 13 follies?:trout:

Why didn't I think of doing IUI with 13 follicles? Instead of scrimping and saving and buying EVERYTHING used (including my maternity clothes), I could have had all new stuff along with volunteers so I can go take time off. OK, so I might be rather harsh here, but good grief.

This was just so irresponsible in my opinion.

This is so unbelievably tragic. I can only imagine the heartache - and stark reality - those parents are experiencing! I will be astonished if any of them make it, serious problems or not. So, so sad.

But this is not to say that I agree with implanting 6 embryos. Just because the technology is there, doesn't mean that we should use it.

In the case of the Phoenix sextuplets, it was IUI, not IVF. No embryos were implanted.

We "greedy" infertiles just want what most women do- a happy healthy child to share our lives with.

Thank you .

I'm curious: Is there any difference between IUI and AI?

Nope. It's just sperm inserted into the top of the uterus. It's mainly for male factor related infertility, or hostile cervical mucus. Only 1% of sperms make it past the cervix.

You can do it medicated (which the phoenix couple did) or unmedicated. It's a simple procedure, and the costs is minimal compared to IVF.

Cardiac: when it's UN-medicated, is it just done when the woman is ovulating vs. HELPING her ovulate more? So much about this topic I don't know!

Cardiac: when it's UN-medicated, is it just done when the woman is ovulating vs. HELPING her ovulate more? So much about this topic I don't know!

IUI or AI is often done as an early step in the treatment of infertility when there are problems with sperm quality, number, or motility. It is also sometimes used simply as a way of increasing the odds of conception when the cause of infertility is unknown.

If the woman appears to be ovulating normally, it is done without the use of medications. If there are problems with ovulation, then Clomid may be used along with a scheduled insemination.

For women who fail Clomid treatment, insemination is sometimes coupled with the use of high-powered fertility drugs, but a RESPONSIBLE infertility specialist would insist on an U/S to determine the number of follicles produced prior to scheduling an insemination, and would cancel a cycle if the patient produced too many follicles. Unlike IVF, there is no way to control the number of follicles that are fertilized and implant following an insemination procedure.

I was treated with Pergonal in preparation for an insemination, but produced 12 follicles, way too many to be considered safe. My insemination was cancelled, and I was instructed to NOT have unprotected intercourse until U/S my number of follicles was reduced to less than 4. When that happened about 2 months later, I conceived "naturally", and had a singleton.

Thanks for the detail; no I finally get it!