KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – Chad and Tanya Tatro always wanted a family.
“Like every young couple does, you talk about how many kids you’re going to have,” Chad Tatro said.
But the Tatros struggled to get pregnant.
“So many years of struggling with Mother’s Day, and just wanting it so much,” Tanya remembered.
After years of trying naturally to get pregnant, the Tatros decided to try something relatively new in the world of infertility alternatives. They decided they would adopt donated embryos
“I found it on the internet, he heard it on the radio,” Tanya recalled.
Here’s how embryo adoption works: couples who try I.V.F. or In Vitro Fertilization might have embryos left over. They can donate the embryos to another couple, donate them to research, or discard them. If they choose to donate them to another family they can work with a number of different organizations, each with its own policies and costs.
Kris Probasco in Kansas City is a consultant for one of these organizations: “Snowflakes”.
“About fifty percent of my practice is embryo adoption,” Probasco said.
Probasco deals with the legal and emotional sides of embryo donation.
“They have the ethical, moral struggle to decide what to do with the remaining embryos,” Probasco explained.
Part of that struggle is realizing their embryos could become someone else’s children.
“They go through a lot of thinking and it is a loss for them because that wasn’t their intention to allow someone else to adopt their embryos,” Probasco said.
Before a donation is finalized, Probasco does home studies and has the genetic and adoptive parents swap medical and family information. The procedure to implant the embryos only takes about five minutes, but the results are anything but guaranteed. The Tatros had six failed tries.
But then, their son Ethan, was born. After a total of twelve transfers, the Tatros feel their family is complete with Ethan, Tyler, and twins Micah and Mikaila, all adopted as embryos.
They get a lot of questions.
“Yes, I was pregnant, yes they are adopted, and here’s how those two things go together,” Tanya said chuckling.
And for Tanya, there’s no question that embryo adoption is as valid, as serves as great a purpose, as traditional adoption.
“For me, an embryo really is a child waiting to be born,” Chad said.
They say their children are proof of that. four precious children that now give their lives new meaning.
“Mother’s Day now it’s a wonderful day,” Tanya smiled.
Here are just a few of the many Embryo Donation Services:
Embryo Adoption Awareness Center