PGS Results

Because of our past history with miscarriage, it was really important to me to do PGS (Preimplantation Genetic Screening) testing on our embryos when we did this IVF cycle. This is where they take a single cell from the outside of your growing, 5-day blastocyst, and send it to a lab for analysis (our clinic uses Natera). The cell is reviewed to determine if it contains all of the normal chromosomes or if if it is missing some or there are extras.

In our last miscarriage, it was determined that our baby had Trisomy 16, which is a chromosome abnormality incompatible with life. We miscarried around 8.5 weeks, after going through ultrasound hell. We went to ultrasounds for three weeks in a row watching our little one stop growing and eventually the heart stop beating.  It was one of the hardest things that we've experienced, and I want to do everything I can to avoid experiencing that heartbreak and pain again. So we chose to have our little embabies tested.

However, you can only do a frozen cycle when you PGS test, because you need to wait to get the results.  For this cycle, we chose a hybrid approach, where we did a fresh embryo transfer on day 5 (which is when your embryo would naturally come out of your tube into your uterus), and chose to PGS test/freeze the rest.

Out of our 8 little embabies that made it to freeze, 5 of them had a normal chromosome makeup.  Out of those 5, we have 4 little boys, and 1 little girl. Or as our doctor would put it, a little hockey team.  I am so thrilled with these results....
1) Its reassuring that many of our embabies were normal. If they weren't, I'd be much more worried about the viability of our the embryo that we did a fresh transfer with. 
2) This gives us a lot of opportunity to expand our family in the future, should our fresh embryo transfer not work, or that our embabies don't survive the thawing process. 

I am praising Jesus for the wonderful IVF cycle we had. I truly feel so blessed and know that it will help us fulfill our dream of becoming parents. I continue to pray that the embryo we transferred during our fresh cycle was healthy and continues to grow.

I wanted to share why I chose to do PGS testing in an effort to help others who may be on the fence. For us personally, I don't think we would have done it if miscarriage were not a prior issue. But knowing that we miscarried due to chromosome issues, this was a big factor and provides some assurance, but not a guarantee. 

Love to all my TTC sisters. XO