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The process of using an Egg Donor

Hello, intended parents! We understand that the process of finding an egg donor can be overwhelming and emotional, but we are here to guide you through every step of the way.

The first step is meeting with a member of our team to get to know you better and learn about your specific needs. We’ll also take the time to explain our agency and the egg donation process to you, and answer any questions you may have. We’ll also discuss your preferences for a donor match, such as age, medical history, genetic history, education, and physical characteristics.

Once you’ve identified a potential match, we’ll reach out to the donor to confirm that she’s available during the time frame of your cycle. We want you to feel confident in your decision, so we’re happy to send any inquiries you may have to the donor.

Once you’ve chosen your donor and signed the necessary agreements, our team will send a match sheet to your IVF clinic to let them know about your match. If you don’t have legal representation, we can provide a referral. We’ll communicate directly with your nurse coordinator to schedule any necessary appointments for the donor screening process. If you have an out-of-town donor, your clinic will require her to travel to their facility for a meeting with your physician prior to providing medical clearance.

During her medical screening, the donor will undergo physical and hormone testing, as well as an ultrasound to determine her Antral Follicle Count. She will also be tested for infectious diseases and undergo genetic testing. A psychological evaluation and personality inventory will also be conducted.

Results from the donor screening can take a few weeks to come in, especially for genetic tests. If the donor is approved by your Reproductive Endocrinologist after all results have been received, we will notify your attorney so that we can proceed with the Ovum Donation Agreement. The donor will have her own representation to review the agreement with her. After both parties have signed the final version, your attorney will provide a legal clearance letter to your clinic.

Once medical and legal clearance has been given, your physician will design a calendar detailing the medication protocol leading up to the retrieval. There will be several appointments prior to retrieval to monitor your donor to ensure she is responding appropriately to the medication. Typically, between day 10-14 of stimulation, the donor will undergo the egg retrieval through a procedure called transvaginal ultrasound aspiration, which is done under sedation or general anesthesia.

We hope that this overview of the egg donation process has been helpful. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us with any questions or concerns you may have. We’re here to support you every step of the way!

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What are the risks associated with being an egg donor?

So, you’re interested in becoming an egg donor. Let’s talk about the process and what you can expect.

First things first, egg donation involves removing eggs from your ovaries through a medical procedure. While it’s considered safe, there are some risks involved, which we’ll chat about with a Reproductive Endocrinologist during your screening visit. Don’t worry, we’ll make sure you’re fully informed!

The egg retrieval process includes taking medications to stimulate your ovaries to produce multiple mature eggs. Then, those eggs are retrieved through a procedure called transvaginal ultrasound aspiration. You’ll be under sedation or general anesthesia, and the procedure usually takes about 15-30 minutes.

After the eggs are retrieved, your ovaries will return to normal within a few days, and most donors report feeling back to normal by the start of their next menstrual cycle, which is usually around a week after the retrieval.

You may experience some mild cramping or bloating after the procedure, but these symptoms usually go away quickly. While rare, there may be more serious complications such as damage to the ovary, infection, bleeding, or an allergic reaction to the anesthesia.

Now, let’s talk about a common question we get – will egg donation affect your future fertility? The answer is no, it won’t. The hormones used in IVF have been used for decades and extensively studied, and there is currently no evidence that taking medication for IVF increases the risk of cancer.

Some studies have suggested a possible link between IVF treatment and a slightly increased risk of ovarian and breast cancer, but the evidence is not conclusive. It’s important to remember that many factors can affect a woman’s risk of cancer, such as age, family history, and lifestyle, and some of these factors may also be related to infertility and the decision to undergo IVF.

We hope this helps answer some of your questions about egg donation! Let us know if you have any more, and we’ll be happy to chat.

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Does donating my eggs affect my future fertility?

This is a common (and valid!) question that I get asked by donors. I found this helpful article to help address any concerns you may have about donating.

“Will donating my eggs affect my ability to have children?”

By Lindsey Konkel

Donating eggs does not appear to hurt a woman’s chances of becoming pregnant in the years after the procedure, a small study from Belgium found.

 Few other studies have looked at the effects of egg-harvesting procedures on the future reproductive health of women who donate eggs.

 Some experts question whether hormonally stimulating the ovaries – which makes them produce extra eggs – and removing those eggs from a healthy, young woman could later increase her chance of infertility, but others contend there are no serious long-term risks.

 “Egg donation has been offered to patients in Belgium since the 1980s. We were not surprised by the good reproductive outcomes in ex-egg donors,” Dr. Dominic Stoop, medical director at the Center for Reproductive Medicine in Brussels, Belgium, and lead author of the study, wrote in an email to Reuters Health.

 The researchers gave a telephone questionnaire to 194 women who had donated eggs at the Belgian center between 1999 and 2010. The surveys have been conducted an average of four to five years after those procedures.

At the time of donation, women averaged 30 years old.

Sixty past egg donors reported trying to get pregnant since the procedure. Of those, 57 women conceived without help. The other three women required fertility treatment, though two of them sought treatment because of their partner’s infertility.

 Sixteen percent of donors had changes in their menstrual cycle after donation. However, none of the women reporting these changes had fertility problems.

 “Menstrual pattern could be disrupted temporarily by hormonal changes due to ovarian stimulation, much like how menstrual changes also appear after stopping an oral contraceptive,” said Stoop, whose study is published in Fertility and Sterility.

 “In the short term, egg donation appears to have no effect on fertility,” said Dr. Orhan Bukulmez, an infertility specialist at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas who wasn’t involved in the new research. But longer-term studies of egg donors are needed, he told Reuters Health.

 Although some researchers argue that the extra hormones women are given before the procedure and possible trauma to the ovaries during it could lead to early menopause in egg donors, studies haven’t found reasons to be concerned so far.

 Egg donation is a well-established form of fertility treatment. In the United States, roughly 12 percent of all treatment cycles in 2009 used donor eggs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

 Future research is needed to also consider possible fertility risks for women who have their eggs harvested and frozen for their own future personal use, according to Stoop.

 Originally explored as a way for women undergoing cancer treatment to preserve their fertility, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine still considers that type of egg freezing experimental.

 Bukulmez cautioned that the results of the current study cannot be generalized to include women seeking to freeze their own eggs.

 Egg donors are a very select group of patients that are chosen for their healthy ovaries, according to Bukulmez. “They may not be representative of the fertile female population as a whole,” he said.