Decisions

So another heavy conversation with the "genetic counselor" at Nashville Fertility Center & more to tell!  We have learned about & been offered "PGD" Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis, a procedure that involves the removal of a single cell from the embryo looking for chromosome abnormalities. By 72 hours after the egg retrieval the embryos have between 6-8 cells, at this point a procedure called "embryo biopsy" is done to gently remove one of the cells.   Though this is a relatively new procedure with IVF the technique itself is already done commonly in the IVF lab.  There is no damage to the overall embryo nor does it eliminate any part of the future fetus.  The benefits to using this technology are basically to avoid the risk of implanting abnormal embryos.  Studies have shown that PGD increases implantation rates & reduces the rate of pregnancy loss by half!  This screening would lower the risk of Down's Syndrome, Cystic Fibrosis & Tay Sachs diseases.    There is much, much more but this covers the basics.
So with that being said we have decided to move forward with PGD. I know there are probably alot of strong opinions out there about why to do this or not but for us we have made this decision to do this.....
I was shocked to learn that 60% of embryos tested via PGD are abnormal! WOW
So on the negative side we are lessening our amounts of embryos to implant but again I think it is worth it if the technology is available.
Three days after the egg retrieval the PGD is done, if we meet the criteria of having 4 embryos with 6 cells or more.  The MOST exciting thing we learned is that IF we are able to have PGD we will be able to find out the gender BEFORE the implantation!  Again WOW, huge!  So this does not mean they will do gender selection by any means, that was very clear - we will just be told.  They asked if we wanted to know( YES),  we will find out the PGD results and gender about 30 minutes before the implantation..................BOY is this going to be a big day!   Depending on how you look at this option is can be good or bad but how AWESOME to know if there are little girls or boys being implanted.
I know all of this sounds crazy compared to conceiving  naturally,  kind of hard to wrap my head around it all !  But it is still SO amazing!   We all have to keep an open mind , I am learning this more and more each day!
So as I get the financials together and get ready to cut some HUGE checks I feel blessed to have this opportunity!  On to Cycle Day # 5 !