Shady Grove Fertility held an informal session for women interested in becoming egg donors. This session gave us insight into what motivates and concerns potential egg donors, and gave attendees the opportunity to ask any and all questions they had about the donation process. Additionally, these women had the opportunity to talk to each other, sharing their feelings about donation and learning from those who had previously donated and were considering it again. It was very beneficial for us to understand their perspective, so that we could give them enough information to make an informed decision about egg donation – and so that we could use it for the benefit of all potential egg donors. With that in mind, here are the most frequent subjects that came up throughout the session:
The Inspiration to Become an Egg Donor
Many women find inspiration to donate from personal experiences of family members or friends who had fertility issues. They feel egg donation is a way to give back and help women have a family, much like they wanted to help their friends and/or family who had fertility issues. The donors weren’t considering donation for their own personal glory or for the money; they just wanted to altruistically give this potential gift to someone that they would never even meet.
The Process Seems Daunting…Especially Completing the Donor Profile
Potential donors were concerned about the length of the actual egg donation process and how it could affect their normal routine. It’s important to note that this process is not very long, and that in fact, the medical portion of egg donation is only about two weeks. The lengthiest portion of the process comes during the first few months when applying to become an egg donor. The application process has several tiers – the initial application, finalizing the Donor Profile, attending Donor Day, and completing social work. Once a woman is fully accepted as an egg donor, her Donor Profile is uploaded to a database and she must wait to be selected.
The Donor Profile, also known as the long application, is a 13 page in-depth application that serves as a look into an egg donor’s life. The Profile represents the only information that recipients will ever have about their egg donor – it displays your personal and family medical history and your donor essay. This essay is your opportunity to stand out from the crowd by sharing your goals, aspirations, hobbies, and dreams. The paperwork, though extensive, is beneficial to both the donor and the recipient – the donor improves her chances of being selected and the recipient can get a comprehensive view of the woman whose donated egg will help her grow her family.
An Appreciation of the Screening Process
The screening process helps women fully understand the meaning behind egg donation – helping another couple grow their family. At Shady Grove Fertility, both egg donors and donor egg recipients are treated as patients– it is our goal to fully take into account the needs of both egg donors and egg donor recipients. Egg donors devote time, energy, and patience to help someone else. They move forward through the donation process, knowing the entire time that they could be excluded from the program. Therefore, we compensate donors throughout the process, even if they are unable to make it to donation. We do this because their wish is to help others and their time and effort is highly valued.
Not every egg donor makes it to donation because we have an extensive screening process. When a couple logs on to the database and looks at a donor profile, they know that that donor is already pre-approved. Imagine if the testing came after the couple selected the donor and then a genetic abnormality was discovered? Testing in advance provides the best possible outcome for our recipients. The time, emotional energy, and costs that a recipient undertakes to have a family can add a lot of strain on a couple. Therefore, we do our best to ensure that when they select an egg donor, we’re providing them with the best possible chance for success. For many, egg donation can feel like their last piece of hope to grow their family.
Waiting to Be Chosen
Once an egg donor completes the full application process and is approved to donate at Shady Grove Fertility, their Donor Profile – or long application – is uploaded onto the donor database. The donor database is comprised of approximately 80-100 Donor Profiles from women who are also approved to donate. In this database, egg donor recipients are able to select their egg donor. When egg donors complete the Donor Profile, they are encouraged to share information about their interests, hobbies, goals, and dreams. When donor egg recipients search for an egg donor, they look for similarities they can relate to, which could range from physical attributes to a shared interest or hobby. Read 6 Tips to Expedite the Egg Donation Process.
The Medical Procedure
The medical procedure is the shortest portion of the entire egg donation process. Once selected to donate, the egg donor begins birth control pills, followed by injectible medications used to stimulate her ovaries. During this time, women come in for 8-10 appointments for monitoring, cannot have sex, may experience emotions similar to PMS, and are advised to avoid strenuous activity. The egg retrieval comes after approximately 10 days of monitoring. The retrieval takes approximately 15 minutes and the donor is put under light sedation.
On the day of egg retrieval, the donor receives the last of her compensation and is encouraged to take a day off to rest. The following day after the egg collection procedure, most women are able to resume normal activities.
Read more about the Egg Retrieval.
Potential Side Effects of Egg Donation
There is a 2% chance for complications such as Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS) when the ovaries are over-stimulated or Ovarian Torsion, when the ovary actually twists. These risks are rare, and if an egg donor does have symptoms following a donation, they are brought back to Shady Grove Fertility immediately for an evaluation to address and resolve the issue at hand.
Many women are also concerned that donating their eggs will affect their future fertility; but a woman’s natural ovarian cycle ensures that there will be no effect to the egg supply from donation. Women are born with their entire supply of eggs: generally between one and two million. When a woman reaches puberty and starts to menstruate, only about 400,000 eggs remain. At the start of each menstrual cycle, there are several hundred immature follicles in the ovaries, one of which will mature and then ovulate. The remaining undeveloped follicles degenerate and are lost. When a woman undergoes egg donation, the follicles that would have been lost are stimulated to become eggs and retrieved, leaving the remaining egg supply untouched. Therefore, egg donation does not impact your natural fertility potential.
The Outcome: Helping a Family
While the process to become an egg donor at Shady Grove Fertility might seem long, for our egg donors, the ultimate outcome of helping a family is more than worth it. Egg donors at Shady Grove Fertility are our patients. It is our goal to provide the best care for them while they aim to help another family. If you would like to apply to become an egg donor, please fill out the initial application. Read a Donor Egg Recipient Story.
If you are considering egg donation but have questions about the process, please contact [email protected]. If you would like to apply to become an egg donor, please complete the initial application.
