Couple Implanted with Wrong Embryo at Fertility Clinic
By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
A mix-up at a fertility clinic resulted in a woman becoming pregnant with a child who was not her own. Although these mistakes usually result in abortions, the couple decided to go through with the pregnancy and will give the baby to his biological parents.
Carolyn and Sean Savage of Sylvania, Ohio appeared on NBC’s Today Show on Monday to explain that the mix-up occurred when they decided to try for another baby and returned to the same fertility clinic that enabled them to have a baby girl last year to be implanted with some of their stored embryos. The procedure was a success and Carolyn became pregnant.
However, at some point, clinic staff realized that they had implanted the wrong embryo in Carolyn and that the child she was carrying - a boy - belonged to another couple.
Sean received the bad news at work one day via a phone call from the clinic. Stunned, he went home to tell Carolyn.
“I was upstairs in my bedroom and he came to the door and said, ‘I have really bad news,’ ” Carolyn recalled. “’You’re pregnant, but they transferred the wrong embryo.’”
Carolyn remembers saying, “You’re joking, you’re joking, you’re joking.” But when she looked at her husband, she knew it was true. “He was white as a sheet,” Carolyn said.
The Savages were presented with two devastating choices: terminate the pregnancy, something that clashed with their religious beliefs, or carry the baby to term and give him to his biological parents.
They chose the latter.
Now 35 weeks pregnant, Carolyn is scheduled to give birth within the next two weeks. The baby’s genetic parents will be attending the birth.
“The hardest part is going to be the delivery,” Carolyn said. “I remember communicating with the mother of this child as to what I was envisioning and hoping for. I said, ‘We want a moment to say hello, and goodbye.’ ”
“It’ll be exceptionally difficult,” Sean admitted, even with the eight months they’ve had to prepare and the help they’ve received from mental health counseling. “But at the same time, we’ve been preparing this for months.”
The couple decided to tell their story in the hopes that no other couple ever has to go through what they have endured.
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