Possibilities arising

I got a very interesting call from my friend B yesterday. B rang to tell me that a friend of hers R who I have met on several occasions (hens night, baby shower etc) is donating her excess embryos to her IVF clinic. R has had two children through IVF and have finished their family and are going to donate their five embryos. They are planning to do so anonymously through the IVF clinic, but B knowing our situation, rang me to let me know.

I have asked her to forward my details to R, just to talk about the possibility of donating straight to a couple rather than anonymously. As I said to B, if she is not interested, and they have chosen to donate anonymously because that is what they would prefer, then that is perfectly fine and I would never hold that against them. But perhaps they haven't though about the option of donating directly, and it would absolutely be something that we would love to do. It may also give them the option of having regular updates and contact with children that result from their embryos.

Without building this up too much in my head, because I know the probability is that we wont receive those embryos, this would be the perfect option for us. I have so much trouble going through the IVF process physically, I don't know if I will get to do another egg collection. Being able to go straight to transfer and missing all the drugs that mess me around as much as they do would be fabulous. It would also be great having a known donor, whether they choose to have contact or not, our children would have a much clearer picture of their identity, coming from knowing their genetic history.

We never pinned our hopes on embryo donation because it is quite rare in Australia and the waiting lists are years long, but I can't help but be a little excited about this!

Whether R takes up the offer to talk to us or not, it is still amazing to see options open up for us like this. It gives me hope that one day we really will be parents. I don't know how or when, but I feel that it is possible, which is the first step.