got back from the FS and she says IVF all the way because of my age, that way they can make sure the embryo is 100% healthy before transferring it . She thinks I could have MC because of genetic stuff (due to age) too...hope Hubby agrees to the costs ...UGH!
Junebug, I believe you said your area of expertise is Genetic stuf... when they do Genetic embryo biopsy and what not, what all does it test? and does that mean the baby can not develop it during the pregnancy later on? Can autism be detected too?
My husband is now grilling me with questions cause of the price tag he is seeing. Do I still need to see an Advanced Maternal Age specialist even after genetic testing? Someone told me yes cause of my age and the placenta life time etc... he wants all the answers now LOL
Well I think that saying "IVF all the way" is a bit extreme. There is never 100% guarantee that the baby would be healthy, through a process called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) (that is separate from IVF and doubles the price) they can look at 1 cell to make sure the baby has no chromosomal abnormalities, but there are some false negatives (meaning embryo looks fine but turns out to have Down syndrome anyways) or false positives (where a normal embryo is discarded because of a falsely positive chromosomal screen). These tests do NOT test for the more common causes of mental deficiencies, autism, isolated congenital abnormalities (baby could go on to develop a severe congenital heart defect for example) or any of the thousands of autosomal recessive diseases.
At 41, your risk of Down syndrome is 1/82, and your total risk of all chromosomal defects is 1/51. If you flip those numbers around, you have a 50/51 chance of having a baby with normal chromosomes. So the odds are still great that you'll have a healthy baby! The only way to detect this during a pregnancy is through CVS or amniocentesis, and the risk of false negatives/positives is MUCH lower than with PGD (and MUCH cheaper).
I'm very concerned that the info you were given was very much profit-driven. We KNOW you can achieve a pregnancy without it. My recommendation would be if you do decide to go through with IVF, do NOT do the genetic testing prior to transfer to the uterus, instead do the CVS at 11-12 weeks of pregnancy since those results are MUCH more reliable. Yes, there is a risk of miscarriage, but the rate was once thought to be 1/100 although we now know that it's more like 1/400 or less, depending on your centre (I had it done here and the quoted risk is 1/1000, I didn't even have spotting).
I know I didn't address everything possible, but based on what you wrote, these are my concerns. You could always request a consult with Genetics before you decide to go ahead with anything with the FS just to see the numbers they quote you
I'm here for you!!!