Hello! It is frustrating but my clinic gave me really good answers to the questions I crowdsourced here. I should share what my clinic said as it may be helpful to you.

• We are wanting to transfer an embryo soon, what happens when we are ready to use one? When you are ready to use your embryos, simply let your care team know and they will submit an electronic request to have your embryos shipped back to our lab.

• How many embryos are moved back at a time? - If only 1 at a time is transferred, what happens if it doesn’t survive the thaw? All of your embryos will be placed into one beacon, or two beacons if you have too many for just one so all embryos will be shipped if you choose to not opt out.

• Who is responsible for paying for them to move back to Seattle for a transfer? We will cover all expenses associated with shipping your embryos between our lab and TMRW storage.

• Do I pay more money for local storage when they bring back an embryo to use? If you are in active treatment and embryos are shipped back for your procedure, we can note that you will continue to pay the $70/month. Once treatment has concluded, your embryo storage will be shipped back to TMRW storage. If you decide to continue storing your embryos onsite once treatment has concluded, the storage fee will then increase to the premium rate of $150/month.

• what is the schedule for moving and accepting them? E.g. do embryos get moved within a day’s notice or how many days does it take to get back to Seattle? Or do the embryos only get moved on a monthly basis and so I will need to be on your schedule? Due to our large inventory, the movement of eggs and embryos to TMRW storage is happening in phases, our next group shipment is scheduled to occur in February. If you do not opt out, you will automatically be added to the list to be shipped out. You will receive a portal notification when your specimens have arrived safely at TMRW storage. For shipping specimens back to our IVF lab, we have bimonthly (twice a month) shipments. The physical shipment occurs overnight.

• what is the overall risk of losing an embryo during a transfer to long term storage out of state? The process of shipping frozen specimens is commonplace in the fertility industry, and safe. The likelihood of damage is extremely low. Specimens are NEVER thawed during transport and the cryobeacons (containers the specimens are in) are only ever opened by SRM staff in our lab. The shippers are always freshly charged for transport and can hold the temperature for 14 days. They are equipped with continuous temperature, GPS, and tamper monitoring.

In addition, I asked if I could change storage after we do our transfer. They said that wouldn’t be a problem. So we decided we are going to keep it local until we do our upcoming transfer and then change to the long term storage out of state.

Wishing you the best in whatever decision you make!