I am currently pregnant with twins using IVF (having 2 embryo's put back) but most clinics advise against having more than 1 embryo put back at a time due to the risk of a multiple pregnancy. Australian dr's are very different to the ones you read about as they do not like to risk your health or the health of your babies by having large number multiple pregnancies. The only reason we were able to have 2 embryo's put back is mainly due to my age and also the number of embryo's we had available, this being said we have had 5 transfers using 2 embryo's which acheived the pregnancy with DD and now our twin pregnancy. So as you can see there is no guarantee of having twins using IVF - we used 10 embryo's for 3 babies.
Having twins may seem a joy and I wouldn't change this pregnancy for anything, however I am only half way through and it is already taking it's toll on me physically (I look almost full term) and I feel that my DD is missing out on a lot as I cannot do all the things I want to do with her... not to mention the extra cost already like 2 extra car seats, new twin pram, another cot plus double the amount of clothes and nappies we will need etc.
Oh and as for IVF babies being fraternal (non identical) this is not always the case - we know we are expecting 2 boys and as such they are unable to determine if they are identical or fraternal twins until they are born. Even though we had 2 embryo's transferred we don't know if they both worked or if only one worked and then split, even though both my boys have seperate placenta's and sac's approx 1/3 of identical twins pregnancies have this occur and in all of fraternal pregnancies this occurs so I have 66% chance of the boys being fraternal and 33% chance of them being identical.
Many of the celebs who have twins are older, and have therefore a higher risk of conceiving twins naturally, or of needing IVF. However in China, where there is the famous "one child policy" many women take clomid to increase their chance of a multiple pregnancy. I have also heard of women in this country and America buying climid over the internet for this very reason. I doubt many, if any, doctor would prescribe fertility drugs just to try and get a multiple pregnancy. It would be unethical as a twin pregnancy comes with a higher risk than a singleton one.
Twins are fabulous, I would not wish mine away. But the pregnancy was hard (and I had a low risk twin pregnancy and natural birth). My body has still not recovered and they will be 3 next month. TBH I doubt it ever will fully recover. Add to that the pain I was in, forcing me to rely on TV to babysit my older boys whilst I struggled to cope. I would think very carefully before taking any actions to increase your chance of twins.
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