Decisions, decisions, decisions.....- Molly

On the 19th day of December, my true love gave to me.....

62 pages of consents to sign.

(most pages required up to 4 signatures)

we are taking a BIG leap

Tonight my husband and I signed our consent forms for IVF. I had some of them done at my appointment last week. But there were a few moral decisions that WE needed to make.

Have you ever signed a form that asked this:

1. In the event of death of the male partner/significant other, we wish the cryopreserved embryos to be:

• transferred to the care of the female partner if she wishes
• used in research
• used at discretion of the lab
• thawed and discarded

2. In the event of death of the female partner/significant other, we wish the cryopreserved embryos to be:

• transferred to male partner if he wishes, with the understanding that the embryos could be implanted into the male partner's new spouse.
• used in research
• used at the discretion of the lab
• thawed and discarded

3. In the event of BOTH of our deaths, we understand that the cryopreserved embryos would be otherwise discarded. 

4. In the event of a divorce/dissolution of marriage and decree paperwork does not address the disposition of the embryo, we elect the following:

• used in research
• used at discretion of lab
• thawed and discarded

FYI - when I am at the age of 53, we have to decide if the cryopreserved embryos will be:

• thawed and transferred (imagine being a 53 year old mom)
• donated to another couple (but you don't get paid and you have to pay for all the workup)
• donated to research
• discarded or
• moved to another storage facility

It costs about $900 a year to storage frozen embryos.

This is my favorite paragraph though. The option of selective reduction:

Pregnancies that have more than 2 fetuses are considered an adverse outcome of infertility treatment. The greater number of fetuses within the uterus, the greater the risk for adverse perinatal and maternal outcomes. Patients with more than twins are faced with the options of continuing the pregnancy with all the risks previously described, terminating the entire pregnancy, or reducing the number of fetuses in an effort to decrease the risk of maternal and perinatal morbidity and morality. Yadda, yadda, yadda, yadda. 

Did you read that? Did you read all of that? How many people actually have to make this decision? I can't imagine and I hope I never have to. 

This is how I spent my Monday night. What did you do?

PS - Mammogram is scheduled for tomorrow! My poor boobies!