IVF vs Embryonic Adoption

Along our journey to start our family Dan and I have had to make MANY decisions.

One of the many decisions Dan and I have had to make was how far we would pursue infertility treatments before we would stop trying to have our own biological children. When I learned that only 60-70% of the embryos survive being thawed for transfer I knew that IVF was not for us. Dan and I believe that life begins at conception and I could not freeze embryos knowing that 30-40% of them would die in the freeze/thaw process. We could of course opt for transferring all of the fresh embryos and not freeze any but this would not give us a very good chance for success for our money.

This is when the decision making really began. Should we be DINKs for life and focus on further investing in our family, friends, students and coworkers? (DINK = Double Income No Kids) Should we look to adopt? Should we do international, domestic, foster-to-adopt, or embryonic adoption? If an international adoption, which country do we adopt from? How do we feel about adopting a non-Caucasian child? A boy or girl? Older or younger? A special needs child? How much can we afford to spend on adoption? Which agency should we go with or should we pursue private adoption with a lawyer?

Two years later after much research, discussion with others who have adopted, and much thought and prayer we finally feel at peace with our decision to pursue embryonic adoption through the National Embryo Donation Center and Bethany Christian Services.