Creating family with embryo donations
CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill. — The Felices’ three children were conceived at the same time, but they’re not triplets.
Faith, 6, and Matthew and Michael, both 4, belong to Jamie and Dan Felice, a couple who struggled to have children before being matched with a donor through a group that collects unused frozen embryos. They received six embryos. Two pregnancies later, their family is complete.
“I was terrified at 20 to birth a child, but once I found the man of my dreams and wanted to have kids and wanted to create a child together like most couples, I wasn’t afraid anymore,” said Jamie Felice, 47.
But after 10 attempts at artificial insemination and four unsuccessful rounds of in vitro fertilization, Jamie Felice was nearly 40, pumped full of hormones and ready to give up. Then she stumbled across an embryo donation organization.
“We thought, how cool is this?” she said. “I still get to carry the baby and experience pregnancy and how cool is it to connect on that?”
More than 600,000 frozen embryos are in storage in the United States, and embryo donation is a growing industry, with nearly 2,000 frozen embryos used in conception attempts in 2014, according to experts. ‘Not missing out’
While many people are hesitant to get pregnant using donated embryos, the Felices are thrilled with their family.
Their home is filled with the thumping of little feet racing across the hardwood floors. On a recent weeknight, Matthew squealed as he caught the family cat, who defeatedly hung from his arms like a white, fluffy rag doll. In his haste, Matthew crashed into Faith, who ran to her mother with tears streaking down her pink cheeks and crawled into her lap for comfort.
“It obviously has its tough times, like when they’re running around and chasing the cat, but it’s amazing. You love them so much,” Jamie Felice said as she smiled at the little girl in her arms.
Her husband agreed, saying that this experience is the closest thing to having biological children and that he often forgets they’re not his own.
“You’re not missing out on any part, except in your head you know they’re not biologically yours and you just move on,” said Dan Felice, 51. “To me it is the closest thing to the real thing. You have them and they’re yours. You don’t even think twice. You would instantly die for them.” Less expensive option
Embryo donation is possible because of IVF, which began in 1978 and costs about $10,000 to $15,000 for a single IVF cycle in the U.S., depending on insurance coverage, patient characteristics and treatment centers, according to the website for the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, which represents the majority of IVF clinics in the U.S.
When a client undergoes IVF, clinics create dozens of embryos and pick the best ones to use. The leftover embryos are typically kept in frozen storage, donated to medical research or discarded, experts said. Nonprofit organizations like Nightlight Christian Adoptions, the one used by the Felices, and the National Embryo Donation Center help match donors to recipients around the nation. Some hospitals and fertility centers also have programs that match their patients with the donated embryos from people who have used their services for IVF.
Participating in an embryo donation program is less expensive than undergoing an IVF cycle and also less expensive than using a donor egg.
The Felices paid about $2,000 for their four IVF cycles because their insurance covered the majority of the costs. This total does not include the copays for fertility drugs, blood draws, ultra- sounds and other expenses.
They paid $8,000, plus an additional $2,000 for a home study, to Snowflakes Embryo Adoption and Donation, a program through Nightlight. ‘Very small minority’
However, many couples balk at the idea of having a child who is not biologically related to them, and even more people change their mind when it comes to donating embryos, said Dr. Brad Van Voorhis, president of the reproductive technology society.
“If you look at the literature on this, a lot of couples say at the outset that they’re interested (in donating), but when push comes to shove, it’s a much less frequent occurrence,” Van Voorhis said.
Nidhi Desai, partner at Ballard, Desai & Miller in Chicago, which specializes in adoption and reproductive technology law, agreed, saying that while the number of embryo donors is on the rise, it’s still a small number.
“The national landscape is there are more organizations that are beginning to look at this as a viable means of building a family,” Desai said.
“Depends on the angle from which you approach it. It is becoming more and more common, but there’s a very small minority of people who want to donate their embryos.”
About 65,175 babies were born via IVF from clinics associated with the reproductive technology society in 2014, an increase from the 63,286 babies born via IVF from its clinics in 2013, according to a national report by the society.
IVF accounts for less than 5 percent of all infertility treatment in the United States.