I got a call from the RE himself on Wednesday with the results of DH's genetic testing. DH is a carrier for exactly one thing. To quote Love Actually, you may have guessed it, but you may not believe it, it's SMA!
So now we get to learn a lot about pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. The article I just linked to provided some really good information. We still have a bunch of questions for the RE when we meet with him next Friday, though. One question that I have for anyone who has needed PGD is how significantly it impacted the number of embryos they still had to transfer/freeze, whether they still had enough.
The biggest impact that the news has on me is that I finally have some sort of answer to the cosmic question of WHY. Why we had to deal with infertility. Why we couldn't have our first cycle when we were supposed to. Why we weren't able to do what so many other people can do so easily. The question of why is still on the list of questions I have for God when I get a chance to ask him, but it's moved a lot farther down the list.
Hi Jessie! Here from LFCA because I saw your question about embryo numbers. I'm currently 29 weeks pregnant as a result of IVF with PGD. If you visit the "Timeline" page at the top of my blog, there are links to the different stages of my IVF cycles. On our last cycle, we had two embryos to transfer (zero to freeze) after 14 eggs were retrieved -- the reduction due to fertilization rates, embryo quality and PGD results. Feel free to contact me at abracadabrababyblog@gmail.com if you have more questions. Wishing you all of the best!
ReplyDeleteP.S. I didn't realize it was going to use my google account. My blog is http://abracadabrababy.wordpress.com/.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sarah!
ReplyDeleteHey missus - here from L&F too, we're dealing with a balanced translocation and have just done a (unsuccessful) round of ivf with pgd. The outcomes aren't so great (imo) due to the number of embies carrying unbalanced chromosomes (in our case) and the concern over how invasive biopsies affect embryo growth is one of my concerns too. When I brought this up with our FS he said something along the lines of the evidence shows better outcomes for translocations, Mr Reassurance himself. We had 1 viable embryo which was measuring a day behind in terms of growth - I don't know how much of this could be attributable to ICSI and PGD needling.
ReplyDeleteAll the best with your journey, I agree that its good to have a diagnosis and know what you're dealing with, but also can feel quite final and desparate at times too. Feel free to ask me anything, I tend to whinge a lot on my blog as thats what its here for right now, but I do reply to people too!
Jessie:
ReplyDeleteOn our fifth round of IVF (one cancelled, 2 fresh and 1 frozen prior), we went with PGD. This after 5 IUIs) Two of my friends with at least 2 unsuccessful IVFs had successful pregnancies after adding PDG to the mix. We had taken a break and were trying to adopt (which wasn't going well). I was five years older than when we started treatments, but wanted to try this PGD. there were three "normal" embryos of the 8 tested. I usually had 8 -7 or 8 celled embryos. I have a beautiful little girl now. PS I have had 9 pregnancies, some spontaneous, some from treatments -- most chemical pregnancies, but 4 that went beyond 8 weeks (one of which was my DD). Good luck. I credit PGD for our only success.
When y'all (aside from Sarah since I asked her elsewhere) did PGD, did it include assisted hatching? The article I read about PGD said that assisted hatching is part of the process, but Sarah wasn't sure if hers included it.
ReplyDelete