This is one more reason for why insurance coverage for IVF should be better – and cover more than one attempt. I know my insurance has a lifetime cap of something like $12K for fertility treatments, or roughly one IVF and maybe one IUI before that. If more than one attempt were covered, this decision would be easier for people. I know if both my tubes had been blocked instead of just the one, I would have been left with IVF as our only option, and my hubby and I would have strongly considered voluntarily going with twins for financial reasons, and to not have to repeat a process that isn’t all that comfortable. I’m fortunate to not have had to make that decision at this point in life (knock on wood), but I think I can empathize with people who do have to make it.
I don’t think anything about IVF is really easy, so if you do end up going that route, I wish you the best of luck, and I hope it all works out well for you. :)

Just a small correction: in an IVF cycle, embryos are not “implanted.” They are transferred. That’s the whole crap shoot. You can’t force implantation. If you could, then the success rate would probably be a lot higher. Also, however, the rate of babies with birth defects would probably be higher because it is said that embryos will often fail to implant for the reason that they are not healthy. So, you transfer the embryo(s) in hopes that at least one (and if you’re asking your RE, ONLY one) will implant. When I had IVF, I was ready for the possibility of twins, and I think a lot of infertiltiy patients are, because they’re thinking that they’d love to have two children, but can’t afford to do IVF more than once.

Of course you can’t know what it’s like to carry twins or care for them until you’re there, and I am sure it is HARD. However, while I have heard parents of twins often say that it’s hard, I have never once heard any of them say, “I wish I had only had one. Why did I get saddled with twins? Poor me!” It’s still a huge blessing; one I would have accepted gratefully. Still, I felt outrageously happy with my miracle singleton. If I do IVF again, I’ll get two embryos transferred, just like I did the first time, and for the same reason. I need more chances at success. There is a lot riding on it. What if, during my first cycle, we had transferred only one embryo, and it was the wrong one? The one out of the two we transferred that didn’t make it? I felt more secure transferring two, and I’m glad we did.

My friends who successfully got pregnant through IVF all had the same fear of having multiples but said it just isn’t practical when you’re using your life savings to get pregnant.

Two of my really good friends had one baby and can’t afford any more babes. I think it is wrong that insurance companies should decide that for people who could potentially want more children.