Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Costs & Types of Embryo Adoption/Donation

WHY WE CHOSE Embryo Adoption....Country Jen style...

Embryo adoption/donation IS NOT IVF. It is simply a frozen embryo transfer.

After much discussion and prayer, we decided that we did not want to create embryos that were not "ALL US" meaning either 1/2 DH+ 1/2 donor or 1/2 Me + 1/2 donor AND we did not want to be in the same predicament and create embryos only to have to decide where our "extra" embryos would go as we only desired ONE pregnancy.

Because of all these factors, we were led straight to embryo adoption.

Focus on the Family and many other Christian organizations support and encourage embryo adoption. It obviously didn't matter to The Captain or I whether it was our biological child or not-we were actually thrilled that this child would be adopted just like our 6 littles! Many couples agonize over what to do with their remaining embryos after IVF. There are 3 choices. Donate them to another couple, destroy them or donate them for research.We started doing research and found that embryo adoption can cost anywhere from $3,000 up to $20,000.

There are basically 4 ways I know of to do embryo adoption. I will list them from most expensive to least expensive.

You can adopt your embryos through an agency like Snowflakes which is the most expensive way but they are experienced and pioneered embryo adoption. You can choose either open or closed adoptions. Home study required. $12,000-$16,000. According to Snowflakes website as of 2-15-10, their program fee is $8,000. Additional costs include your home study fee and frozen embryo transfer fees estimated at $4,000-$8,000 for a total of $12,000-$16,000.

You can go through NEDC (National Embryo Donation Center). You must travel to their clinic in Tennessee twice once before your transfer and once for the transfer and get your home study through Bethany Christian Services. Total Cost $4600-$7,000 with an extra $3,000 if you want an open adoption.

You can go through an infertility clinics anonymous donation program. Fees from $3,000++ No home study required. Click here for clinics that offer embryo adoption.

Miracles Waiting. Which is what we both Jen's did. For $150-you post a profile and perspective donors read through and email you if they are interested. Some donors are also listed and you can contact them. Although we got chosen in just 9 days-many people wait over a year or more. Our cost $3800

I hope this helps to clarify the costs of some of this. It is all in how God leads your family. ALL EMBRYOS ARE LIFE so no matter which way you go, you are saving a life!

6 comments:

  1. Oh...I wish I had thought of EA a long time ago. I knew about it, but I just didn't really consider it an option! But you girls have done your homework. Once this became a possibility for us I did a lot of research and you found all the same things I did. We got lucky and were matched through our own clinic (where we got our biological IVF baby 2 years ago) in just 4 months. Our FET is March 11th and our cost is right around $5k.... It was $15k for each IVF round we did (and we did 2)...so yes...so much more cost effective. I looked into Snowflakes but really felt they were capitalizing on this just a bit too much and my next step was going to be Miracles waiting but our clinic was very confident our wait would not be very long so we went that route instead. Our donors are really only 1/2 anonymous. Our donor couple used donor eggs so they shared the profile with us for that woman. Otherwise we just have the physical and medical history of the partner sperm. I am very excited and really hope this works. We have 5 embryos and will transfer two in just 3 weeks.

    Thanks for all this great education. I know it will help so many couples build thier families.

    kd

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  2. We went through Snowflakes and homestudy and all it only cost us $9300. Then we paid our clinic for the transfer. But for us, Snowflake wasn't as expensive as you posted. :) Just wanted to share my experience!

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  3. Hi Heather,

    Thanks for your comment.

    We posted the information directly from Snowflakes Facts Sheet PDF file. Paraphrased, Page 9 states:
    Snowflakes program fee is $8,000. Additional costs include your home study fee and frozen embryo transfer fees estimated at $4,000-$8,000 for a total of $12,000-$16,000.

    Hugs!!!

    2 Jens

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  4. Thank you so much for the information! We found out this week that having a child of our own will be virtually impossible. We kind of knew the news was coming so had already started looking into EA. We're definitely going to try Miracles Waiting.

    I would love to hear more about the post match process from someone who's been through it. Could you share some details about what happens after the match, i.e. drawing up and legalizing a contract, embryo transport, FET, etc. Any info you can provide would be very much appreciated!

    Thanks again!

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  5. Wow, how did you spend less than $5,000 through Miracles Waiting? Is the cost based on the donating couple? I really want to do this, but thought we couldn't afford it. Now we're living abroad and we can do IVF for $5k. But if it's likely we can do this for the same price, I'm all for it!!!

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