Sunday, August 22, 2010

IVF with PGD?

**Due to popular demand, I added a few definitions down at the bottom for some of the random acronyms in this post!**

With IVF #2 slowly quickly approaching (UGH, 4 more months) I have gotten back into doing "baby research". For most people this entails looking at the newest carseats and cribs but for us it means scouring the internet for the newest advances in reproductive technologies. When we got pregnant with London we did IVF with ICSI and AH.  This time I am thinking of throwing PGD into the mix. My RE has not recommended this to us yet but we haven't really discussed next cycle yet either. I had an initial consultation and she added me to the January IVF schedule, but we haven't discuss actual protocol.

The reason I would like to add PGD to this cycle to because of our recurrent miscarriages. We had 3 miscarriages before getting pregnant with London and then we lost his twin at 11 weeks.  I would LOVE to somehow cheat the odds and escape from IVF #2 without another miscarriage.

Here are my reservations about PGD though. I have heard that it can sometimes damage the embryo thus making it stop grow. Even the idea of this breaks my heart. There is nothing I can do if some of the embryos that we create from IVF stop growing.  But to think that WE caused it to stop growing breaks my heart. I know this may sound silly to some because I know we are doing it for the greater good of the healthy embryos but I can't help feel bad for the ones who won't pass. The ones who are never going to get a shot at implanting in the uterus. The ones who will begin and end in a petri dish.

So I have a questions for people who have done PGD.  They don't give me details about the embryos do they? They just get a pass/fail grade right? I have this huge fear that they are going to show me this chart on ET day with the embryo's picture/gender/hair color/birth weight/shoe size/and an age progression photo of when the embryo is 21. (TOTALLY KIDDING) I just fear that I will be given too much info thus making me feel even more guilty about the embryos that did not make it. Basically I just want to make sure they don't tell me gender. While I am aching for a little girl, I do think some things should be left up to chance. I want to use the most healthy embryos regardless of gender. I can't imagine if we chose to not use  "embryo London" based solely on his gender. We would have missed so much. Every baby regardless of gender has a place in our family, we just don't know it yet. When we showed up to our ET the Dr used his medical expertise and chose which little guys were getting put back. Knowing personal information about them (like gender) would have always made me feel guilty for the ones we didn't put back. Does this make sense? I apologize if not, this has sort of become a 'random stream of consciousness' post for me. For that I apologize to you, but just writing all of this down has been very therapeutic for me.

Anyway... I think I am going to talk to my RE about doing PGD during our next IVF cycle. Basically I just want to make sure that we have the healthiest embryos transfered at ET. I want to minimize my time at the Dr's office and away from London. I want to minimize the already difficult emotional times that come with infertility and IVF. I want to have a baby with the least amount of heartache. I want to be fertile and get pregnant when my husband bumps into me in the hallway. Since that is not going to happen PGD might just be our next best option.

**Definitions:
RE:  Reproductive Endocrinologist (Infertility Specialist) 
IVF: Invitro Fertilization
ICSI:  Intracytoplasmic sperm injection, a technique where they take one sperm and inject it directly into the egg. Mainly used when there in a issue with the males sperm. 
AH: Assisted Hatching, used to basically crack the shell of an embryo before it is transfered back. It aids in implantation
PGD: P reimplantation genetic diagnosis, genetic testing to make sure the embryo is chromosomally normal before transferring.
ET: Embryo Transfer. The procedure where they put the embryos back inside of you. 

31 comments:

Awise said...

DH & I just went through PGD for the first time. On transfer day our RE reviewed our embryo with us. Each embryo got a number in the order of how good the embryo are. We had 10 embryo & 5 failed. So on the list #1-bad, #2,3 good...etc. No personal info names, height, weight, shoe size, or pictures haha

Kristen said...

Visiting from ICLW...

I haven't been through PGD, but just wanted to say I understand your concerns. We went through IVF (miscarriage at 8 weeks, movd on to adoption) and we had 10 embryos on day 5. I know some people rejoice over that, but I had a hard time with the ones that weren't "good enough". Obviously the goal is a healthy pregnancy & baby, but its still hard.

Anyway, just wanted to say I get where you're coming from. Good luck.

Unknown said...

can I have a dictionary of acronyms for your post. I want to read it and understand but I only get little bits. Maybe a handy little side bar that has definitions for us new people... I'll keep reading though!

Good Luck. Stay Positive. <3

Gina said...

I never did PGD, but your concerns are very valid. I think, from reading other blogs, that if you do PGD, to transfer the best, you have to wait for an FET, but I'm not positive about that??? Researching it and thinking it through sounds like the best course!

Unknown said...

Briar: Your wish is my command. I added a few definitions to the bottom of the post. Sorry about that!!

Courtney said...

Wishing you all the best with your next cycle.

We did ICSI with the last IVF but will not be doing it with this IVF just because DH has excellent swimmers but our last RE wanted to just make sure so we did it. This Re doesn't feel that we need it. Who knows.

Big *hugs*

Alexis said...

So much to think about!!

Kakunaa said...

We were part of a PGD study, but only made it to the control group. However, had they done the PGD on our embies, we COULD have found out gender, but did NOT have to be told. The RE would have known, but we could be ignorant. We were assured that the biopsy is done on the placenta side of the embryo to lower any potential harm to the embryo, and that the benefits often outweigh the risks. Hope that helps!

Erin said...

You bring up so many considerations! I totally understand why you would want to minimize your changes of miscarriage, but I think knowing more information about the embryo must make the decisions that much harder.

Tina said...

Wow...that is a LOT to think about! Four months...I remember having to wait for our insurance coverage to change after we decided to pursue IVF/ICSI, and I think it was right about August last year. You're right, it is forever...but then again, it seemed to whiz by with all the holidays. HUGS. :)

tina

Sarah said...

When we did your IVF and had Henry our doc only did PGD if there was a reason to believe there was a chromosomal issue. Otherwise he didn't suggest it. Didn't think it was worth the risk, plus here they have to be sent off so you are forced to do a day 5 transfer. Not a problem if you have lots of options, but they didn't want to lock people out of the three day option.

Not sure if that helps. Our office may do more of it now, but it was rare a couple of years ago. There was a couple that had lost a child due to a rare genetic disorder in our group, so they were having it done.

Lisa said...

My doctor did not recommend PGD. If the embryos were found to have some chromosomal abnormalities they would have to be discarded. That limits the number of embryos I would have to use. Although that is what I would essentially be trying to do, my doctor said sometimes the embryos have a way of working themselves out as they grow. In the end I could possibly be throwing out great embryos. That would have been horrible for me because at my old age I'm having trouble producing enough eggs. Best of luck on your decision.

Shona said...

You don't find out lots of information about the embryos when you do PGD. They only test for the specific abnormality that you are interested in.If you were doing PGD for gender selection then you would know gender but not otherwise. (Gender selection is done for duchenne muscular dystrophy, which only affects boys although girls can be carriers.).

In my case (I have myotonic muscular dystrophy), for each embryo, they tell me abnormal, normal or inconclusive. Inconclusive doesn't happen that often. Then we pick the best 2 normals ones (as in the two that seem like they have the best chance of working) and transfer those.

I got pregnant on cycle three and am now trying to get a sibling for my toddler.

Have a read of my blog, there is lots of information on there.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do! I really hope it works for you.

Shona

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IVF is a fertility option and sometimes used with PGD to keep baby safe from genetic disorder by preimplantation screening. Best PGD clinics are available in India where treatment is simple and affordable to arrange.

Read More
http://gestationalsurrogacyindia.com/fertility-treatments/

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