Have you ever heard of adopting an embryo?! Well, I hadn't either, until my doctor brought up the idea to me. At first I didn't think it would be something I would want to do, but the more I thought about it, the more appealing it became.
Here is the concept. There are many, many people these days who have trouble conceiving for one reason or another. Or, for no identifiable reason, as in our case! Except that we're older. Anyway, when people decide to do IVF (in-vitro fertilization), the doctor harvests eggs and sperm, combines them in a lab, and (hopefully!) the eggs become fertilized. There are usually drugs involved that make a woman generate more than the typical one egg in a cycle. So, in many cases, there are several embryos created, and 2-3 are implanted back into the uterus. If there are remaining embryos, they are frozen for later use if needed. In a happy ending, a baby (or two or sometimes more!) is born on the first go-round.
The question then becomes, what should be done with the frozen embryos? The parents need to decide. Donate them to research? Destroy them? Or, perhaps give them to someone else who is hoping to have children? Luckily for us, there are people out there who choose the latter.
Our story is that we've tried some fairly non-invasive fertility treatments, but nothing has worked. Our next step would be to go the IVF route. I think Chris wouldn't mind doing this, but for me, the money ($15,000 +), the intense effort and time, coupled with the extremely low odds of success (15-20%), have made up my mind--no. On the other hand, adopting an embryo has many advantages--I would get to carry the baby and therefore would be responsible for all pre-natal care, health, etc. The cost is much less ($3,500 or so). And, the odds of success are about 60-70%.
So, about a year ago, we put our names on the waiting list of people hoping to adopt an embryo at our fertility clinic. They told us it would be about an 18-month wait. In the meantime, as you know, we began our journey through the State adoption process. Well, as these things go, just as we had finished up all the classes and paperwork for the adoption certification and were waiting (and are still waiting!) for it to be finalized, we came to the top of the waiting list for an embryo!
I called Chris to tell him this news and ask if he still wanted to do this. He said yes! So, we evaluated 5 different profiles of available embryos. The profiles describe the characteristics of the mother and father--age, race, health history, physical description, etc. We chose one, and have started the process!
Our next step is to get some blood tests to make sure we don't have any infectious diseases, etc. Then, I will start on some medications, and by the end of August, they will transfer 2 embryos. I have to be down for about 48 hours--Princess time on the couch. I remember when Jill went through this. It sounds wonderful now, but I'm sure it gets boring! Then, in a week or two (?) we'll find out if the embryos attached. I'll have to find out more about the timing, because I'm not quite sure about that part.
Sorry to keep asking, but we'd love your prayers and thoughts for this as well! I'll keep you posted!
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