Freeze day 2 or day 5 for future biopsy?

TW: mention of pregnancy and child from IVF

I did IVF a few years ago and my first transfer resulted in my 18 month old child. After her birth we discovered she has a serious genetic condition. Our intention is to test our remaining embryos for this condition before trying for another baby.

I have some insurance coverage that is expiring and it will cover 100% of the cost of another round of IVF. We’ve decided to do another egg retrieval now to maximize our chances of having unaffected embryos.

Unfortunately, the company completing the PGT-M testing isn’t ready yet to receive samples from embryos and our clinic doesn’t have the appropriate facilities to store biopsies samples. And, because we’re under a time crunch due to insurance, this means the embryos will need to be frozen, thawed and sampled when the company is ready to complete the test, and frozen again to wait for PGT-M results. Not ideal, but it seems worth the gamble since there isn’t a monetary cost to this round of IVF.

My clinic has provided two options:

• grow the embryos to day 5. Freeze. When the company is ready, thaw and biopsy. Refreeze. (same as the existing embryos from my previous cycle)
• grow the embryos to day 2. Freeze. When the company is ready, thaw and culture to day 5, biopsy. Refreeze.

The day 2 option will cost about $1500 out of pocket because of the later culturing to day 5 after my insurance expires. We’d be comfortable paying this cost if it would improve outcomes.

This is sort of an unusual situation. Has anyone been through something similar and what did you choose? Does anyone have knowledge of these options and what would you choose?