Egg Donation

What is egg donation?

It sounds complicated but we are going to do our best to shed some light on it. Egg donation, also known as oocyte donation, makes pregnancy possible for women who might not otherwise be able to get pregnant using their own eggs, a case that is often associated with older maternal age. It has been proven that egg/embryo donation is a very effective procedure in a wide range of cases.

The procedure is similar to standard IVF, except that the eggs are sourced from a friend or from an anonymous donor, or an egg bank. The donated eggs are fertilized with the partner’s sperm in a laboratory dish and then the fertilized embryos are transferred to the woman’s uterus.

The success rate varies depending upon the age of eggs, retrieval process, and quality of semen as well as the overall health of the women involved. In most cases, donors are young men and women, have a healthy reproductive system, and are tested negative for hereditary diseases.

What is the egg donation process (for the recipient)?

Let’s see how it works now so as to understand what comes ahead! This is called the “Egg Donor IVF Cycle” and starts a month before.

The cycle starts when the donor’s eggs are prepared for embryo transfer and the mother’s uterus is prepared to accept them. Now it is also the time to start planning your trip if you are thinking about Egg Donation abroad!

The expected mother will begin taking progesterone supplementation. Like estrogen, it helps the preparation of the uterus to accept the embryo. After the egg recovery is finished, the donor’s job is done and you need to have already traveled to the country in which you have selected to perform the treatment.

Then it is the father’s turn to appear! He needs to give a semen sample (at times, the sample might be collected and frozen before. But it’s typically done upon the arrival of the egg recovery.) The recovered donor’s eggs and the father’s sperm cells will be put together. Ideally, a portion of the eggs will be fertilized.

Following three to five days, the expected mother will come into the facility for an embryo transfer. One to two embryos will be moved into the mother’s uterus and all remaining embryos will be frozen for another cycle -if needed. Around ten to fifteen days after the embryo’s transfer, the expected mother will take a pregnancy test.

This is a very quick look at the process of egg donation. It may differ in medication and timeframes, but it gives you an idea so as to start getting familiar with it.

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