Mom searching for a family for her embryos

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

Angel Watts is a beaming mother of two sets of twins, ages 3 and 16 months. The two boys and two girls were conceived through in vitro fertilization after thousands of dollars in expenses and years of infertility frustration.

Angel and husband Jeff also have six donated embryos in storage at the National Embryo Donation Center in Knoxville that they want to share with parents who are willing to accept what some may consider unusual terms — 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 webpages that troubled her heart. On those websites and Facebook, 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.

In vitro fertilization works when eggs are retrieved nonsurgically through a transvaginal ultrasound. Patients are prescribed hormones in advance so more than one egg can be gathered. Nine to 10 eggs can typically be retrieved. Sperm is injected into the eggs in a lab, and once the eggs are fertilized, the embryos are inserted into a mother, who then takes a regular dosage of hormones and other drugs.

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