In 2020 we started actively trying for a baby. After some time, the “natural” way wasn’t working and we looked for medical help. First they gave us medications to ovulate, then came the intrauterine inseminations and lastly they recommended in vitro fertilization (IVF).
The treatment began near home, in Carle Hospital. During six days we needed to take contraceptives and then start daily injections for 14 more days. The egg retrieval was scheduled around two days after the last injection (June 14, 2021), that same day the sperm was collected to fertilize the eggs. Out of 17 eggs retrieved, 12 were mature enough to continue, but only 8 were successfully fertilized.
During the same time we were getting the results of our genetic screenings and discovered we are carriers for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), a very serious genetic condition passed to 50% of the male embryos. That result meant that we needed to make another decision: screen all the embryos for DMD, take the risk of having an affected child or continue with only female embryos.
We decided to screen the embryos for the specific condition (PGT-M). To develop the probe for the test, they required DNA from the maternal grandmother. We had to coordinate an international shipment. It went better than expected and in a few weeks they had the test ready to be applied. As part of the analysis they also checked for viability (PGT-A).
Only 4 of the 8 embryos were viable, one of them was a male affected by the condition. The rest were female, one of them was not a carrier and the other two were given inconclusive results, meaning that, in the worst case scenarios, they could be DMD carriers as us.