Mosaic Embryo Update

Well, we talked to our doctor, we actually had the conversation, 8 months after giving birth to our last "normal" embryo, we talked about our low mosaic embryo.

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A little background…We did IVF for 3 years. We did 4 retrievals and 7 transfers before our miracle Eriela was here. Out of those 4 retrievals we ended up with a total of 8 embryos. Prior to Eriela we had transferred 6, all of which were PGS tested aside from one. That one is the one we miscarried at 8weeks in January 2019. SO it was a long road. We had a lot of loss and are still grieving to be honest. But when Eriela was born something changed, something made me immediately think about the last embryo that we had on ice. I haven't been able to stop thinking about that embaby. I look at Eriela and realize what this little guy or girl could be. So we decided it was time to take the next step and talk to Dr. Quaas about this embryo.

This last embryo that we have is low mosaic (If fewer than 20 percent of the cells in the blastocyst are abnormal, the embryo is labeled as normal. If 20 to 40 percent of the cells are abnormal, it is considered a low-level mosaic. When 40 to 80 percent of the cells are abnormal, it is labeled a high-level mosaic. Thanks Google). But to be honest, I thought he was going to tell us that this was a long shot, that transferring this embryo would not really be worth it. Boy was I wrong.

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When we got on the phone it was surreal (I actually talk to my RE, all the time via IG, yeah he’s the best). But having found out that he will be going back to Europe at the end of August, I knew I needed a formal conversation and get his honest opinion in regards to our last embryo. Our mosaic embryo.

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You guys, all the feels! I hadn’t had a formal conversation with him since our last ultrasound at 10 weeks at the fertility center last year. I felt nervous, excited but also very anxious because, as much as I love my doctor and nurses, I’m not sure if I can be in that office again, remembering all of the times we walked out in tears.

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But we knew we needed to get some answers to be able to know what the best move for us would be…

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Side bar-Dr Quaas actually was on the panel at the PCRS (pacific coast reproductive society) a multidisciplinary medical specialty society providing Continuing Medical Education (CME) to physicians and allied healthcare professionals. PCRS offers the highest quality, innovative CME, designed and presented by thought leaders in reproductive medicine. He was part of a debate regarding the transferring of mosaic embryos and thus has done extensive research on this topic. In other words, he knows his S*&t. Here is a link to this discussion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py7rvNB-N9A&ab_channel=PCRSOffice

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He gave us his opinion and told us that he would transfer our last little embryo with little hesitation. He presented some facts:

-Our embryo is low mosaic meaning it only has about 20-40% of abnormal cells, and ours is on the lower end.

-Our embryo has an abnormal chromosome 14 which apparently isn’t linked to any dysmorphia or major issues that they know of

-Our embryo has about 40% chance of implantation

-if implantation occurs and pregnancy looks “normal” then a mosaic embryo has very similar survival rate to a “normal” embryo

-Our embryo is fair, Eriela was a fair graded embryo, it just means there is a smaller % of it implanting.

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After hearing this I got excited but also so nervous. I mean do we want another baby? When would we do this? How would we do this? Where would the baby go? What if it works?

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Clearly none of my questions and concerns have been answered other than the fact that I was worried that we would have issues with the pregnancy if it took (and I know we could always have issues but I am specifically talking about this embryo and what we know about it currently).

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So here we are, still sitting with a lot of unknown. But I am glad we took that first step. We had been talking about it a lot, and honestly I didn’t really think it was going to have this big of a chance.

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The next steps for my physically would be as follows:

-Speak to a genetic counselor

-Come into the clinic for a Flexible hysteroscopy (exam of the inside of the cervix and uterus using a thin, lighted, flexible tube called a hysteroscope) Ive had 3 of these already so meh

-Birth control for 14 days to induce period IF my uterus looks ok

-Start transfer process (which would be very similar to what we did with Eriela).

Dr. Quaas will recommend a doctor in this same practice and this way keep the communication open. "Erin you know you can Dm me or WhatsApp me anytime." Literally was holding back tears when he said this.

So now we sit. We sit with this information. It's now real and has opened up doors that I don't know if I was ready for but here we are. Nick and I agreed to have a few more, or a lot more, conversations about this. While we don't want to transfer next month, we know if we were to do it, it would have to be sooner than later.

You want to know what I want to do? As of now, I want to transfer the embryo. As of now I feel complete with the family I have, but as of now, I can't stop thinking about that little life that could be a beautiful addition to our family.