One frozen embryo

ajlmom

I had egg retrieval last November and had 5 frozen embryos. I didn't have a fresh transfer and it took 4 of those frosties to get me pregnant with a singleton.  A few months ago I got a letter from the hospital saying the first year of storage is free, but after that it would cost $1250 / year to store my embryo (s), no matter how many I have.  I'm a FTM and definitely want to have more kids, but I'm not sure if we should keep this little frosty because of the cost.  I believe my insurance allows at least 2 rounds of IVF and I've only done 1 round.   

So if you were me, would you pay > $1K to keep just 1 frosty? or do a fresh cycle when we're ready to have more kids?  My IVF was covered 100% by insurance and I only paid $250.   I would totally pay the $1250 if we had 2 frosties or more, but having only 1 makes the next FET less favorable.  I need to decide before November comes.   

TIA! Hopefully I'm not considered a bad person.............

Momarazzi007

Not a bad person. Ours is free until birth of baby, then it is $480 a year. That's almost a third and just might sway me bc of my past (we've gone through 11 embryos and this second pregnancy- we did a FET last November w last embryo from daughter we had already spent over $800 in storage fees and it failed). If I had insurance coverage and a chance to start again with coverage I'd hedge my bets on starting with a fresh cycle bc paying for last embryo which would be lowest grades of your batch. I'm sorry if that sounds horrible- I'm looking at this with my hindsight and experiences. We went on to fresh cycle, have that fail, and then FET where only one took. So six cycles- two fresh, 4 frozen, 11 embryos, only two pregnancies and hoping two children! If it were me I'd see if it could be donated (I can't discard and if it could help someone it was given a chance), but I'd prefer to start fresh with more options as even with coverage- that money would be needed.

pblge

That's really tough! Do you know the quality of it? That could decide it for me, but mainly if it was a very poor quality embryo with a low chance of success. I would not pay thousands for a 3CC embryo, for example. Also, what would happen to it if you didn't pay the bill? Science? Embryo donation pool? Or the trash can?

This is likely a decision only you can make, as only you know how much $1250 is in your family budget. Whatever you decide, you're not a bad person. There are no easy decisions with extra embryos!

babydreams13

I have one frozen too.  I think mine will be about 1000 a year to store it.  I will pay it bc what if thats my last good embryo I will ever get? But we aren't planning on doing IVF again.  

Do what you feel comfortable with.  You could always donate the embryo.  

southernyankeegirl

My biggest consideration would be your age and ovarian reserve and quality of embryos. If you have concerns that the quality and/or quantity would suffer in a future IVF compared to your frostie, I would keep it and try again within that year. If you're relatively young and egg quality isn't likely to be your primary issue, then I personally would donate it and do a fresh cycle when you're ready.

Also, whether your issuance is likely to change and what your back up options would be if you have to pay OOP in the future should be considered too.

MKateG

That's a hard one but it is a plus that your insurance pays 100% that's awesome mine told us they wouldn't pay a dime for anything that had anything to do with ivf! But my lab only charges 375$ to store our 7 embies. I guess I would consider your age, egg quality, how long you want to wait before trying for #2, and what makes you feel comfortable. Even tho we don't necessarily plan to try for more kids, since I'm preg with twins, I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of my embies yet. But if your egg quality is good and you have time before it would start decreasing I think I may just do ivf again...