Anonymous wrote:You can move them to another storage facility that is less expensive, if you want to keep options open until you are a certain age.

Looking up articles on this helped me greatly. The vast, vast majority end up thawing and discarding embryos eventually (98%).

Donating to science is really, really elusive if you want something meaning ful, versus a lab technician practicing working with embryos for their training.

We faced this after years of storage fees. Thought one and done, but did a FET when our kid was in elementary, figuring we'd be open to a 2nd kid if it worked out. Pregnancy, then miscarriage. I knew I was done. Won't miss the sleepless nights with a baby, though we would have welcomed a kid for the longer term.

We considered embryo donation but only if two couples I knew had been receptive. It's very personal. Id no more feel compelled to donate embryos, than be an egg donor every month in my 20s (which I did not do). I personally didn't want to get on the train of someone else picking over my genetics, for good or for bad too.

Going through the FET is also a reminder, conception fails at many, many points. You would not even know if an egg and sperm met one month and you then had a negative pregnancy test. I also had a fibroid that was sort of marginal, was willing to do FET, but not willing to pay out-of-pocket for surgery. Nor would I ever consider the cost of a surrogate. Point being conception could fail at many steps.

Googling this topic brought up articles that helped me make a decision that closed this book for us.

Best of luck.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can move them to another storage facility that is less expensive, if you want to keep options open until you are a certain age.

Looking up articles on this helped me greatly. The vast, vast majority end up thawing and discarding embryos eventually (98%).

Donating to science is really, really elusive if you want something meaning ful, versus a lab technician practicing working with embryos for their training.

We faced this after years of storage fees. Thought one and done, but did a FET when our kid was in elementary, figuring we'd be open to a 2nd kid if it worked out. Pregnancy, then miscarriage. I knew I was done. Won't miss the sleepless nights with a baby, though we would have welcomed a kid for the longer term.

We considered embryo donation but only if two couples I knew had been receptive. It's very personal. Id no more feel compelled to donate embryos, than be an egg donor every month in my 20s (which I did not do). I personally didn't want to get on the train of someone else picking over my genetics, for good or for bad too.

Going through the FET is also a reminder, conception fails at many, many points. You would not even know if an egg and sperm met one month and you then had a negative pregnancy test. I also had a fibroid that was sort of marginal, was willing to do FET, but not willing to pay out-of-pocket for surgery. Nor would I ever consider the cost of a surrogate. Point being conception could fail at many steps.

Googling this topic brought up articles that helped me make a decision that closed this book for us.

Best of luck.

I'd also add - a substantial number of people just stop paying storage fees on frozen embryos. But we would never do this, it harms a business plus ends up pushing the costs off to others indirectly. So I think people either should pay, move to a less expensive storage facility and pay, or make a decision.