Frozen embryo disposal protocol

[Frozen665]

At every stage our clinic sent letters. Detailing treatment, embryos transferred, embryos remaining in storage etc. Always responded to emails .....

After 5 failed cycles we ran out of money and had to decide to not keep the last 3 embryos and filled in the forms etc for them to be thawed and disposed of. We heard nothing. No replies to emails and no letter of confirmation. Are they meant to send us something ? I feel uneasy and don’t know why

Why would you want to do this?

There's no downside at all to them staying frozen and about a million things that could happen that would mean you could afford another FET in the future.

I worry you'd regret such a drastic choice.

430 West, because it is expensive and OP says they ran out of money.

OP

I found it really emotional having to do this.

People really don't understand the costs involved in ivf.

430 west that's not really helpful to the OP.

OP yes I'd expect some kind of confirmation from your clinic.

If you have any doubts, give the clinic a call.

op

Methinks 430West has never been through fertility treatment.

OP, we had to do the same. No confirmation letter either.

It’s such a hard thing to choose to do, you do need some kind of recognition for it.

seems weird they didnt contact youagain

we have had a letter asking what we want to do

1. pay ro refreeze another year
2. donate to another couple
3. donate to medical science
4. let die

we have chosen 3 as thats how clinics learn, would be weird knowing a full sibling out there to dd and wont be ding ivf again so no need to refreeze

think it was £500 to refreeze for another 12mths

Ok, that did come out a bit blunter than I meant it to, I'm just really surprised that anyone would choose to do this.

I'm sorry if I upset you, OP, that really wasn't my intention. I just know how infertility and IVF can mess with your head. Allowing your hard-fought for embryos to perish is such a drastic move, do you not think there is the slightest chance you'd regret it maybe 5 or 10 years from now?

We have embryos frozen and the £350 per year storage costs is literally top of our financial priority list. We're not intending to use them, but are very aware that life, situations and finances change over time and we may well feel differently in the future.

All the best to you

I also have frozen embryos and so far I have spent almost £3k storing them. It's a bit irrational but I don't feel able to let them go. My DH thinks it is ridiculous and a waste of money. I can understand why the OP didn't want to keep paying.

I’m heading up to 45 so wont be using ours. Hence donations to medical science

But if all had failed and not a mum I couldn’t let them go. Anyway you can borrow the money to keep them frozen

Our clinic sent us a form to fill in asking us what we wanted to do

I would chase up the clinic so you know for sure

I think allowing embryos to perish because you have completed your family, or feel you have reached the max age at which you would consider pregnancy is very different from OP's situation.

I hope you don't mind me saying this op, but I detect such sadness in your post, are you sure you're doing this for the right reasons? Might you be going down this path as a self preservation mechanism? (I nearly didn't have ivf at all for this reason so do understand how it feels)

Does your clinic offer any counselling?

But blondes I don't think that's helpful to the OP. She's made the decision and is waiting for confirmation. It's natural she feels sad or uneasy about it but she seems to have made the decision so what's the point of telling her she should have borrowed the money?

May there is a chance still?

Just seems weird they clinic hasn’t replied /confirmed so op is in limbo

We have one son who is 5 and had 2 frosties- we paid to keep them frozen for 5 years but recently took the decision to donate to research. I am now 40 and our family is complete as a unit of 3.
Donating was quite an emotional decision. Our clinic -Care- did write to us with lots of paperwork.
for you

To add- we had no letter back after sending the forms to donate to research. An acknowledgment and thank you would be nice, I agree.