Mom turns to Facebook to find family for 6 embryos

MT. JULIET, Tenn. — A couple has six donated embryos available for any would-be parents willing to accept what some may consider unusual terms.

Angel and Jeff Watts, the parents of two sets of twins, ages 3 and 16 months conceived through in vitro fertilization after thousands of dollars in expenses and years of infertility frustration, have the embryos in storage at the National Embryo Donation Center in Knoxville.

They want a family that receives the embryos to raise any future children together, not space them too far apart in age and allow the Wattses to have a relationship with their biological siblings.

A few months ago, Angel stumbled across social media sites that troubled her heart. Angel said she found stories of donor-conceived children who felt disregarded, left behind or stripped, by science and donor anonymity, from any chance of knowing anything about their heritage.

On Dec. 17, Angel posted her request to Facebook.

"We come with good news for someone out there," she wrote in a long post. "We are seeking a couple in the area who has roots in TN who is having issues with infertility who are otherwise healthy and will need IVF in order to start a family. We have 6 good quality frozen six-day-old embryos to donate to an amazing family who wants a large family. ... It would be very nice if there is no super huge age gap between the siblings and we don't want (the embryos) to (still) be frozen 20 years from now."

The Wattses have had considerable response to their Facebook post but have not yet found a match.

Doctor and lawyer Ellen Wright Clayton, a professor at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the School of Law and a Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society member, spoke Wednesday about the science that allows in vitro fertilization and how the desires of donor-conceived children are not so different from those of adopted children.

"This is a similar issue that has arisen in the case of reproductive cloning," she said. "These are issues we have been thinking about for some time with new reproductive technology. You are talking about children separated greatly in time and environment, gestated in different people and raised in different families, all of which will affect the child's life experience."

But she said there is a common denominator.

"There's tons of evidence to show that many, many people who are raised in families that weren't the ones who bore them want to know where they came from," Clayton said.

Without speaking directly to the legality, Clayton said there appeared to be nothing wrong about Watts donating the embryos, that she simply made stipulations when making the donation.

Years of struggle

The Wattses came to this decision over a difficult and lengthy period of time.

About 10 years ago, the Wattses were up-and-coming professionals who postponed having children. It made sense to have kids later in life, once they were established in their careers, as many couples do. It made sense, that is, until Angel was 38 and the couple were given some hard news: Angel's eggs were old and there were issues with Jeff's sperm.

Angel and Jeff could not have children.

Angel found her eggs could not be used. But, with the help of in vitro fertilization, Jeff's sperm could be used. Angel and Jeff paid for a cycle of eggs from a 20-year-old donor through a fertility clinic. The donor produced 28 eggs, 18 of which were fertilized with Jeff's sperm. On the fifth day after the donor eggs were fertilized, two successfully fertilized embryos were placed inside Angel, and the rest frozen.

The first two embryos resulted in the couple's first set of twins, a boy and a girl named Alexander and Shelby, both age 3 now.

"There was a little trepidation at the start of the process with in vitro fertilization," Jeff said. "It wasn't a smooth road. ... I wouldn't say it is a miraculous process, just technology."

About seven months later, Angel and Jeff had two more embryos prepared defrosted and those were inserted into Angel. Nine months later, those embryos became Angelina and Charles, now both 16 months old.

A happy family

Now, toys are scattered across the Wattses' house. A play castle sits in the living room beside little miniature recliners. Play tents, train sets and stick horses abound in the playroom, where cartoons play nearly nonstop.

"Sometimes, when they are playing together and doing their own thing, absorbed in their own little world, I feel like I could just watch them forever," Angel said last week. "I feel like I don't even need to watch television, that I could just watch them all the time."

The little children play together nicely, she said. They cling to her tightly, and they bear a resemblance to their father.

They are as much Angel's children as if they had come from her eggs. After all, they did come from her womb.

Now, both 45, Angel said she and Jeff realize there is no way her body could carry the additional six embryos that are stored at the National Embryo Donation Center.

For Angel, it's personal.

"We are old. I'm 45 now. When my children are in their 40s, they'll be putting us in the ground, if we live an average life span," she said. "It would be nice if they have siblings to carry them (during) that other half of their life. It would be nice for them to have that (family) to call and talk about their lives."