Okay, IVF ladies, I need your help. When my husband & I did our fresh cycle back in early 2014, we opted out of PGS (Pre-Implantation Genetic Screening) testing of our embryos. At the time, we did not think we would need it. On paper we looked great- young, healthy, no losses, no medical histories, MF diagnosis…pretty much by the textbook for success.
But after going through 3 miscarriages and 5 embryos, neither my husband or I feel overally comfortable transferring one of our remaining 3 embies without having them genetically tested. Of course, every mother wishes for a healthy child, but I must be honest with you- my fear now is much greater than anytime I was ever pregnant before.
So, we discussed the possibility of PGS testing our remaining frosties with our RE yesterday. I guess it can be done, but it is not as commonly done or recommended as doing it on fresh embies (makes sense).
Basically, they would have to be thawed, tested, refrozen, and then thawed again to be transferred. I keep thinking of taking meat out of the freezer, thawing it, then refreezing it, and then thawing it again….ehhhh. IDK.
But heres the thing-my RE and embryologist seem to think that whether or not they could survive this double feeeze/thaw would be mainly based on their quality to begin with. For example, really strong embryos will make it regardless of the double freeze whereas the others wouldnt.
I am curious if any of you ladies have successfully or unsuccessfully tried PGS on your frosties (not fresh)? Please share!
The dilemma I am faced with is what if they tell us all 3 are genetically unhealthy? What will we do then? Thats a tough thing to consider. Would we
- Still transfer? Doesnt seem to make sense, why even test in the first place then?
- Donate to science?
- Dispose? Seems kind of selfish & cruel in a way
- Go through another fresh cycle? So much more money, drugs, which is really all just strain on my body
- Give up on IVF altogether?
My mind races thinking about all this.
- Do we just chance it like we have the past 3 transfers and pray for the best?
- Forget the PGS?
- What if we get a ton of embryos from doing another fresh cycle? It might sound crazy, but we do not want this. I know most people dont usually say this, its the other way around. But we got 8 day 6 blasts our first time, and I am not looking for 8 more in all honesty. Maybe it is what we have gone through, I dont know…I am just being honest. If these 3 remaining are good, that is more than enough for us (if my uterus cooperates).
My RE did point out that if all 3 of the embryos we have now come back genetically unhealthy, and we know we would want to go through another fresh cycle for more embryos, then we should do the fresh cycle and then test all of those embryos and the frozen embryos we have now at the same time.
She says this only because of cost for us. It is a flat fee to do PGS-as many embryos as you want can be tested, but the testing has to be all at the same time. For example, if we test these 3 now, it will not include any testing down the road. God forbid they are unhealthy and we still want to move forward, we would have to pay the same price to test all of those new embies.
Decisions, decisions…
Surviving INfertility 