what to do with those photos of embryos?

[Anonymous]

Are you keeping those photos of embryos taken through the microscope? It seems weird to keep them, weird to throw them away. We're having a bad time with this in general and are trying to move on.

[Anonymous]

I have a medical file and I keep all that stuff in there in case it's needed at some point in the future. Once we actually have our LO in our arms I will probably burn it and bury the ashes.

Hang in there, OP.

[Anonymous]

I have done five embryo transfers, only one of which resulted in a pregnancy. I keep the photos until I have the results and then throw them away (if negative) or keep them (if positive). I remember that it felt really weird to throw it away the first time, but it doesn't feel so weird now...just sad obviously. Do whatever feels right to you, and good luck on your journey.

[Anonymous]

I was never given mine. If I felt really weird about throwing them away, I'd probably do the ol' "stick them in an envelope and file them away, hopefully to be forgotten" thing. It's tough. It's easy for me to say that it's just a grouping of cells, not people, but we all know that there's more emotion to it than that. Whatever you want to do is the right answer, OP. Best of luck to you.

[Anonymous]

You may want to keep them in a medical file in case you ever go for a second opinion.

[Anonymous]

I have the photo of the three transferred embryos that resulted in my (one!) daughter . . . I am keeping it b/c I think it would probably be interesting/neat for her to see it down the road . . .? I dunno, I think I might get a kick out of seeing myself at 8 cells (or whatever)! I mean - wow!

[Anonymous]

I'm getting the impression from the OP that none of these pictured embryos resulted in a live birth. I suspect she wouldn't be having "a bad time with this" and "trying to move on" otherwise.

[Anonymous]

I've wondered the same thing. It feels a little morbid to hang on to them, but to just toss them is odd, too. I've put mine in the file cabinet, but wonder about getting rid of them because I don't want to happen upon them in years to come, or have anyone else come across them, either. Best to you, OP-- this process raises so many strange questions and situations and it's tough to navigate them.

[Anonymous]

I kept them for a while but when I got to the point where I was ready to grieve our infertility and move on, I got rid of them, and all the books like TCOYF, etc. It's now been a couple of years and I haven't thought of them, actually, since I saw this thread title. You really will move on, even though it seems impossible now! Good luck to you!