Embryo adoption can feel like a big, uncertain step, so it helps to hear from people who have already taken it. These are real accounts from patients of the Malpani Infertility Clinic, in their own words. Not all of them had embryo adoption. Two had a donor egg cycle, and we say so plainly under each story, because the two treatments answer different problems and we would rather you knew which is which.
What they share is the position most people reading this are in. A doctor had told them that their own eggs or sperm would not give them a baby, and they had to work out what to do next.
Rosa and Gary, from Tennessee: frozen donor embryos after two adoptions
Treatment: frozen donor embryo transfer.
Rosa and Gary married in 1992 and started trying straight away. Many IUIs later, in 2000, Rosa was diagnosed with premature ovarian failure. Three IVF cycles with her own eggs came to nothing: one was cancelled because her ovarian reserve was too poor, one ended in miscarriage, and one was negative. Their clinic then offered donor eggs. They chose international adoption instead, partly because the cost was similar and adoption felt certain, and they adopted two children from India.
When India changed its adoption guidelines and a third adoption became impossible, they looked again at donor eggs and donor embryos. Living in the United States, they could not find any donor egg or embryo of Indian descent. That is how Rosa found us online and travelled to Mumbai for a frozen donor embryo cycle. They had six healthy embryos, they chose how many to put back, and the transfer worked.
Single at 45, and ready: embryo adoption
Treatment: embryo adoption (embryo donation), four embryos transferred.
She had wanted to be a mother since she was 15, and had waited, assuming she would marry first. At 43 a specialist told her that her follicle count was already too low and her FSH too high. He put her chance of a baby with a sperm donor at under 3 percent, and with embryo adoption at about 30 percent. An ultrasound also found a 3cm fibroid, which had to be removed and checked before anything else could start.
After surgery and a couple of months to recover, she began the counselling that comes before embryo donation. She was shown information about three possible donor couples, photographs included, and found she was not ready to know that much about them. None of the available embryos were Indian, and she had already pictured an Indian baby. She stopped, and waited two more years.
At nearly 45 she wrote to the clinic describing her situation, and got a warm, non-judgemental reply the same day. Her irregular cycle was not a barrier. She flew to Mumbai, stayed with the clinic, and had four strong-looking embryos transferred. Her pregnancy test came back strongly positive. An early scan showed two sacs, and one of them stopped at about six weeks. She carried the other to term and gave birth to a daughter, and describes it as the best experience of her life.
After three miscarriages: donor eggs
Treatment: donor egg IVF, four embryos transferred in the first cycle.
She was 29 and became pregnant immediately, then lost that pregnancy at five or six weeks. A second pregnancy ended at seven or eight. A third, closely monitored pregnancy, ended in a miscarriage at twelve weeks that also put her in hospital. Testing found a genetic condition that made repeated miscarriage likely: the next pregnancy could be fine, or the next eight might not be.
Two cycles of embryo screening in the United States produced no genetically normal embryo, so the next step was egg donation. She wanted to do the early part of the cycle at home and travel to India only for the transfer, and needed a clinic willing to work that way. That is what brought her to us. Her first donor egg cycle in Mumbai did not work. In the second, most of the embryos were poor quality and she nearly cancelled the transfer. One four-cell embryo and three two-cell embryos went back. Nine days later the test was positive, and a difficult pregnancy ended with a daughter.
A couple from the USA: donor eggs, after a failed cycle at home
Treatment: donor egg IVF in Mumbai, after a failed donor egg cycle in the United States.
Their American doctors spent more than a year investigating before telling them that donor eggs or embryo adoption were their options. They were trying for a second child, and finding an Indian donor or Indian embryos in the United States was close to impossible. They went ahead with a donor egg cycle there, and it failed. They describe being left in a bad state, emotionally and financially.
They came to Mumbai for the treatment instead. They stayed at the clinic for the first night, unplanned, and were struck by how simple the transfer was compared with the elaborate procedure at home. A month later the pregnancy was confirmed. Their advice to other couples comes down to three things: a clinic that answers, doctors who know their case, and a city that is easy to reach.
What these four have in common
None of them was an obvious case. Two had been through repeated miscarriage or repeated failed cycles. One was single and 45. One had already adopted twice and been told the door was closed. In every case the first honest step was finding out what was actually possible with their own eggs and sperm, and only then looking at donation.
None of them was promised a baby either. What they got was a plan they understood, a clinic that answered their questions, and a treatment that gave them a fair chance.
Could this be your story?
Every story is different, and no one can promise a result. What these patients share is that they asked, honestly, whether embryo adoption could work for them, and then took the first step. Take our one-minute self-check, read the full embryo adoption FAQ, see what it costs, or message us on WhatsApp and we will answer personally.
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