Considering IVF but major fear of the wrong sperm bring implanted

[TuesdayMonda]

Hi we have a genetic health concern in our family so are considering IVF as an option to avoid passing this on to the next generation. The process of IVF doesn't worry me to much but I have a major fear of the wrong sperm being added to my egg and implanted. I worry it might make it difficult for me to connect with our baby if we are successful. Has anyone else experienced this fear and moved through it?

When I was going through cycles of IVF it was all over the news about an embryologist destroying embryos, but pretending to do the embryo transfer as they were in debt but got a fee for each transfer. All those poor hopeful couples on 2WW without an embryo even being transferred

DH had a momentary concern as DC was born rather dark looking -as babies are-frankly I was so desperate for a baby I’d have taken in any random baby that was left on my doorstep!

There should be lots of controls in place to prevent these kinds of things happening, I know it occasionally pops up in the news, but when you think of all the cycles that couples go through each year compared to how often it actually happens I imagine the chances of it happening to you are pretty low. There should be a counsellor attached to any fertility clinic you choose so it may be worthwhile discussing your fears.

Thanks I think I probably do need a bit of counselling on this, conscious my concerns will only escalate once hormones come into the mix

Most UK clinics use a system where multiple staff witness everything at each point and everything has a barcode where gametes are scanned to confirm a match before proceeding, so there's several manual checks and a barcode scan at each point too

I also had a panic about this too - you hear about this sort of thing happening in Russia or America

Anyway I just came out and asked the doctors about it and they went through the security procedures and that made me feel much better

My partner had this concern before we began and mentioned it a couple of times during pregnancy too. I assured him we could have a paternity test al a Jermey Kyle to put his mind at ease. I was always confident, but I guess horrendous things do happen. Now our ds is here, he looks like both of us so it's a non-issue for us.

I'd say ask your clinic about their procedures. I always felt reassured when they'd ask me to confirm my identity at every stage and I'd see staff witnessing for each other. If this happened at a clinic it would be catastrophic for them and for the careers of those involved, so they don't take it lightly.

I've heard stories about these things too, my counsellor does say that I need to work on my trust issues, but I'm not really sure they're right. This is a huge leap of faith we're taking, and as I am single I think I fear even more. That's why I am a bit over cautious with all the clinics I've talked with, I want to make sure they're the right people for me. The right fit. Do your research OP, it's your future baby, you've got the right to protect it.

Our clinic had a live ID system.

So we got given a card and they had one too. They slot the card into the work station (for lack of a better word!!!) when handling our embryos etc. An alarm goes off when the wrong sample is placed on the table (all the tubes had electronic chips in the bases for this). They showed us and it was pretty cool!!

On transfer day, we took in our card and they used both cards in the transfer room to confirm they matched. Again, pretty awesome!

We went private so not sure if NHS do the same