Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Adopting an Embryo?

Has anyone ever heard of this? A friend of mine in real-life (who also struggles with IF) told me about this today. I didn't realize that you could adopt other people's frozen and unwanted embryos. I Goo.gled it and got a couple sites, but haven't had a chance to read very much yet. I'm just curious if anyone out there has heard of this or done this? Or, do you know someone else who has done this? I'm wondering how successful it is. I wonder if there is a higher incidence of miscarriage if the embryo is not a genetic match to the birth mother. Are there ever rejection issues with the mom's body? Is it kind of like being a surrogate mother, except you adopt the baby? I just have so many questions! It seems like it might be a good option for someone who has issues conceiving but wants to experience pregnancy and the entire life of their child. Any feed back from people in blogland would be welcome!

4 comments:

justme said...

Hi! I came across this site from our friend's site. Hope it's okay to visit. :) I wanted to let you know that I know of someone from New Orleans (who is a devote Catholic) who has done this. I posted her testimony a long while ago on our sister site, but here's her direct link: www.kittycleveland.com and the link to her story:

http://www.kittycleveland.com/site/index.php?option=content&task=blogcategory&id=92&Itemid=39

(I hope the links work.) She adopted three embryos from a friend of hers and while, unfortunately, the babies did not make it, Kitty rejoices in the knowledge that she has populated heaven.

Her testimony is amazing and filled with hope and it really opened my eyes to the world of IVF and Catholic families.

Finally, we are praying for you and your hubby.

Ann said...

Yes, I have heard of this; I have a friend who conceived her children through IVF and now plans to "adopt out" her remaining frozen embryos.

I would imagine donor embryos have the same chance of success as FETs. It doesn't matter that they aren't genetically related to the mom. It's like getting donor eggs, only in this case, both the egg and sperm are donated. It's a good option for couples who have both male and female factor.

Fat Girl said...

Thanks for the feedback. Underthewillow, I checked out the site you linked. It definitely is a moving story. I didn't realize that the pregnancy success rate for using frozen embryos was so low. It sounds kind of heart-breaking... I really do think it would be a kind of heroic act to adopt embryos.

Kami said...

I am moving on to donor eggs and looked into donor embryos. One clinic said that had about a 50% pregnancy rate, but it all depends on the quality of the embryos which depend on the maternal age and the lab that grew them. There is also a higher risk for pregnancy induced hypertension and pre-eclampsia but that can be mitigated with taking baby aspirin.

I do know someone I met through internet friends who has twins from donor embryos after years of fertility treatments and unexplained infertility