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Egg Donation basically involves four phases:
- Signing up with an Egg Donor Agency or Fertility Clinic
- Medical and Psychological Screening and Orientation
- 10 to 12 days of injections
- The Retrieval Procedure
There are basically two ways to sign up to be a donor:
- With an Egg Donor Agency
- Directly with a Fertility Clinic
EGG DONOR AGENCIES
Egg donor agencies make their donors available to couples from multiple fertility clinics. When you sign up with an egg donor agency, you will have the possibility of being matched with couples from a variety of clinics. Some agencies work only with clinics in their geographical area and some work nationally and require their donors to travel. If you have travel limitations, you can inform the agency and they can limit where they match you. This is an important factor in choosing an agency.
A good way to choose an agency is to do a little research. You can read through their websites carefully. Is the information clear and concise? How long have they been in business? Are there reviews available? What clinics do they work with and are those clinics that have been in practice for a while? Do you know anyone personally who has donated through them? Are they easy to reach for additional questions? And what is the general feeling that you get in interacting with them—Is it smooth? Are they willing and able to answer questions?
You may choose to sign up with more than one agency in order to maximize your chances of being matched. Signing up involves an application process, submission of photos and an interview.
SIGNING UP DIRECTLY WITH A FERTILITY CLINIC
If you sign up directly with a fertility clinic, you will only be able to be matched with the patients at that clinic. This greatly limits the number of couples who might choose to work with you. You may however prefer this kind of “one-stop shopping.” You’re not dealing with one entity to sign up and a separate entity for the actual donation.
At major clinics, egg donor requirement is only a small part of what they do. At an egg donor agency, donor recruitment is all they do so they will be giving it their full attention. It’s really a personal preference. Most donors choose to donate multiple times so you could try both and see which you prefer.
MEDICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL SCREENING AND ORIENTATION
The psychological screening consists of an interview and a standardized personality test. It takes a little over an hour.
The medical screening consists of a physical exam, a blood draw, a saliva sample for genetic testing and an ultrasound of your ovaries. It takes about an hour. You will be tested for infectious diseases, genetic disease, and your hormone levels.
The orientation consists of an explanation of the whole process, the medications used, the retrieval procedure, and instructions on how to give yourself injections. It also takes about an hour.
10 TO 12 DAYS OF INJECTABLE MEDICATIONS
Before beginning injectable medications, you will be put on birth control pills for two to four weeks. This is done to regulate your menstrual cycle and synchronize your cycle with your recipient. After that, you will take daily injectable medications that you will administer to yourself at home. They can be given anywhere in your thighs or abdomen. The needle that is used is small and thin, the same size that diabetics use to give themselves insulin injections. The medications are FSH meds (follicle stimulating hormones). These will cause 10 to 20 eggs to mature instead of the usual one that matures each month.
Beginning on Day 5 or 6 of meds you will have a monitoring visit that consists of a blood draw and an ultrasound. For the 5 to 6 days you will have monitoring visits about every other day for a total of 2 to 3 more visits. When the eggs are sufficiently mature, you will stop taking the FSH meds and take one other injectable medication that prepares the eggs for retrieval.
RETRIEVAL PROCEDURE
Your visit on the day of the retrieval procedure will be 1 ½ to 2 hours. The procedure takes about 20 minutes. You will be given intravenous sedation so that you are asleep during the procedure. The eggs are retrieved through a catheter that is inserted vaginally and guided by ultrasound along the side of your cervix and into your ovaries. Afterward, you will wait in the recovery area until you are completely awake from the sedation. Then you’re done.
Most donors feel completely normal by the time they get home. You may feel drowsy for an hour or two. Some donors experience mild bloating for one or more days afterward.
Most donors choose to donate again. An individual may donate up to six times, and many donors choose to donate six times. You need to rest two to three months between cycles. Egg donor agencies in your area can easily be located with a quick search on the Internet.
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