Frozen embryos and Birth control - what to do
4 Replies
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I know this is a very individual decision, but looking for opinions. Do any of you that are pregnant now from IVF have frozen embryos? and ... if so, what do you plan on doing with them?
We have 6 in storage. I just paid to keep them for the next 6 months. I am thinking we will keep them for a few years to be sure we are done having kids, but I am torn what to do. I hate to discard them, but I can't see 'giving them away' either. I don't want to be selfish, but they are our DNA. I think I would be ok with egg donation or sperm, but this is us.
How do the rest of you feel? My husband just rolls his eyes at me when I say "we can't waste them" - implying that we use them of course!!
Also, another issue crossing my mind for future consideration is birth control. Having been unable to concieve for 3 years ... after having children - do I take my chances and not use anything or do I go on the pill? It seems silly to go on the pill suffering from infertility (unexplained for us), but you hear of stories where people then conceive naturally after the first.
Just thoughts to ponder.
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Susie,
You know, I can't help you on the embryo question...that's something I've not had to deal with, so I will pray you find the answers you seek.
However, I am VERY interested in the birth control question!! I wonder the same thing!! Do I take BC or just take my chances?? Since it took us four years to get pregnant this time, will it take us as long next time or not? We want more kids, certainly, but not right away - I'm still trying to get the hang of this one!! So, what do we do - take BC, use condoms or skip it??
I am TREMENDOUSLY curious to find out what others are doing about birth control after your baby/babies arrive. I'm not doing anything yet, but I'm torn...won't someone PLEASE tell me what to do...seems my pages on this are missing from my "WHAT NOW" manual. ;)
Still undecided but also very clueless and confused - can't wait to hear your answers and replies!!
XOXOXO
HeatherMac
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Hi, If we had not miscarried we were going to try in a year with the left over embies. Now we have 13 left and hope to get at least one baby out of them. As for birth control I never have had to us it cause I never got pg without it. Cant help you there. Good luck.
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We did not end up with anything to freeze, but we discussed it in detail in advance just in case we were in your shoes. We had decided that if there were some frozen, that we would always go back for them ( even if we ended up with twins or triplets this time ) and give them a chance. I had personal moral issues with discarding them. I guess for us it worked out, so we don't have to make that decision.
As far as birth control goes, we still want a third child, so we are going to start letting nature takes its course immediately and see what happens. Of course, I stay sick with my pregnancies, so if I end up pregnant and have a newborn I will be happy but a little stressed. The chance of that happening is slim though! We have decided to try on our own for 2 years after this one ( as long as life is going smoothly with 2) and if nothing happens naturally, going back for another round of IVF. Hopefully we won't get to that point. Of course, that is where the frozen embies would come in handy!!!!
Best of luck with your decision. It is a hard one to make. You will have to do what you are most comfortable with.
Justme
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 | Meg - December 19 |
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This is such a tricky and difficult subject. We still have 9 frozen embryos, 2 of which we kind of know weren't that great of quality, so that leaves 7 unknowns. We started with 26. Out of the 17 we used, 2 m/c and we had b/g twins, leaving us w/ our present 9. I wish I could peer into my crystal ball and know what the quality of the embryos are, for that would make the decision as to what to do easier. Our twins were conceived from this frozen collection. DH and I sometimes talk about what we should do, but never really come to a concensus. DH says we are done at 3 children, but again I find it so hard to close that door, after struggling so long to have a family. Right now I am taking it one day at a time.
For all of you p/g and Heathermac, I can tell you what we did after the birth of our twins - No birth control what so ever. I actually began charting, temping, etc when the twins were 6 months old. I had stopped nursing and finally got my body back to where sex was comfortable again. (sorry if TMI) DH and I knew that we wanted another child and figured that it took 3 years to have the twins that we didn't want to take a chance. As it turned out, we got p/g on our own, right when we had consulted w/ the RE about doing a FET. Going back to the RE was a good decision anyway, b/c of my m/c issue as well, as I was followed closely.
It is kind of funny that this question was posted, b/c in the car tonight DH and I were talking what we were going to do in terms of Birth Control. I have said that neither of us is going to do sterilization, and he agrees. I also said that I really don't want to take the pill, b/c I am the worst pill taker in the world. I can't even take a prenatal vitamin on a daily basis. Long ago when I thought I had to worry about getting p/g and took the pill, I always forgot to take at least 1 to 3 out of the month, and I always had a hard time getting the prescription filled. We both hate condoms, so that leaves taking our chances. If it is meant to be, it will be. After having timed intercourse since year 2000, it will be a new concept just having sex just to have it :) Neither of us can remember what that is like... I am basically putting it in God's hands.
I do have a friend who did IVF, conceived twins, and went on birth control right away after having her twins. I also know someone else who conceived twin girls through donor egg IVF; she and her husband wanted another child and decided to do donor egg IVF again, and conceived twin boys !!! She just gave birth 12/1 to her boys and her twin girls just turned 2 on 12/17 !!!! She is extremely busy to say the least :)
Good luck to everyone and your decisions :)
Take Care,
Meg
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