Last week we received an invoice from our fertility clinic for the amount of $200. It stated, "to continue cryopreservation storage, please pay the following amount. Quantity of embryos: 1". Cryopreservation, for all you non IVF buffs, refers to the deep freezing of embryos.
Whaaat? I thought we had already used all our frozen embryos! We started off with 7 embryos. In our first IVF attempt we transferred 2 embryos into my womb. In the second attempt we used 2 again. And the last and final attempt, we threw caution into the wind and tossed in 3. Therefore 2+2+3=7. Where did this mysterious remaining embryo appear from?
Our first thought was that maybe we miscounted. Maybe we had assumed we had 7 when all along there had been 8. We immediately started rummaging through our paperwork and found the important document from the fertility lab that stated our embryo quantity. We had been correct, 7 was indeed the lucky number. So where did this last little 8 cell cluster come from? By this time it was 8pm, the fertility clinic was definitely shut down for the night. At first we dismissed it as a admin error, not a lab error, but as the night progressed some seriously nagging doubts started to screw with our minds. The worst scenario we could think of was : What if they had put the wrong embryos in? In other words: What if they baby growing inside of me wasn't mine?
Of course everything is triple checked before any embryo transfers are performed. In fact, just prior to every frozen embryo transfer, the nurse comes in with the actual test tubes in which our little 'snowbabies' were once frozen in. On each of these test tubes are serial numbers, along with both of our names. We are told to verify them and then sign off on them. But still, what if the lab made a mistake that we didn't catch? A moment of distraction? I vaguely remember seeing the tiny test tubes, but I don't remember looking at the serial numbers and checking the names on each tube....
A quick search on the internet revealed that this like never happens. Ok, maybe once or twice in all the 3 million babies that have been born worldwide. But boy did those cases get a lot of attention, especially by those crazy Catholic pro-lifers who think they've got an answer for everything.
We went to bed a little apprehensive. The next morning when Stef kissed me goodbye before heading out to work, he slipped in, "don't forget to call the clinic". Completely unnecessary. There was no way I was going to forget. I called them at 8.05 and directed my call to the financial officer who had sent me the letter, still hoping it was a clerical error. Being so early, I got her voice mail. I tried my best to not ramble and sound frantic. I'm sure if I succeeded though as she returned my call pretty fast. I couldn't take it though because I was in the middle of a tricky driving manoeuvre and as usual, my phone was in the bottom of my handbag. As soon as I could though, I pulled my car over and listened to my voice mail. "Please disregard the invoice, sorry, sometimes our files aren't up-to-date with the lab's."
Phew. Big fucking crisis averted.
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