We know that it is extremely tough for some women to use donor eggs. Some even feel failure, loss of self-esteem, and serious pressure to meet society’s expectations. However, you should always remember that your value as a woman will never be defined by whether you can conceive naturally or not.
If you comprehend that infertility is not your fault, investigate your feelings and options, be transparent with your partner, take good care of yourself and You will handle the situation more efficiently to get desirable results in your IVF treatment journey.
We recommend reading our blog “Do you need an egg donor and surrogate? do you feel like you failed as a woman?” for further guidance.
Generally, IVF with donor eggs is the same IVF treatment, except that the eggs used are from an egg donor. Today’s blog will walk you through the egg donation process to know what to expect if you decide on this journey.
When are donor eggs advised?
There are numerous reasons why donor eggs may be suggested. This treatment is most commonly used due to:
- Age-related infertility
- Advanced maternal age
- A high risk of passing on hereditary or genetic conditions
- Premature menopause
- Premature ovarian failure
- Poor egg quality
- Infertility caused by a medical treatment
How do I select an egg donor?
Selecting your egg donor is one of the most important decisions to make. Our Donation Team is here to help. First, you should let us know what characteristics you would like your egg donor to have, such as physical appearance, ethnicity, or other preferences. And then search for suitable matches. Our goal is to give you at least two choices. You’ll be given complete donor profiles to help you choose, which tell you all about the donors.
All these details help give you a good idea of the donor’s type of person to make a confident and informed choice. We also know our donors and support them through our donor program, giving you additional and valuable personal insight.
If you want to take a deep dive into this topic and want to know how we select egg donors, you can read our article “Selection criteria of egg donors”.
What can I learn about my donor?
We ensure that you have as much information as possible about your egg donor. So our donor profiles include:
- Physical details: height, weight, hair, eye color, ethnicity
- Career and hobbies: the job our donor has and what she likes to do
- An ‘about me’ written by the donor. It’s where your donor will go into detail about her outlook on life, personality, family background, current family life, and why she decided to be an egg donor.
We at Royal Surrogacy, understand that every intended parent wants to pick as best option possible as their donor. So, we make sure that you feel comfortable in this process and know all the details required about the person who is going to change your life for good!
What is the donor eggs treatment process?
- Consultation and Pre-Treatment Screening
Treatment starts with an initial consultation with a fertility expert. Your fertility consultant will talk through your medical history to ensure no existing factors affect treatment outcomes. Also, they give you a transparently priced and fully costed treatment plan. Usually, our experienced coordinators make sure that the process is smooth for both sides: the donor and the intended parents.
- Counselling support
Patients using donor eggs must have counseling. Our friendly and experienced counselors will describe all the implications of using an egg donor to conceive you. So you can make an informed decision.
- Choosing your egg donor
Our Donation Team will provide you with a choice of egg donors ( you can also see their pictures) that match your preferences from our egg donor program. Additionally, you will be given the choice of using fresh or frozen donor eggs.
- Fresh donor eggs preparation:
If you use fresh donor eggs, your donor undergoes ovarian stimulation and egg collection. Meanwhile, you take fertility medications to prepare your uterus for embryo transfer.
- IVF/ICSI
A sample of sperm is prepared. Then, donor eggs are fertilized via ICSI. This procedure involves injecting single healthy sperms into eggs. After fertilization embryologist is observing the embryo development process and updates you on day 3 and day 5 about it. As soon as we have embryos that reach days 5 to 6 of development we are ready for embryo transfer. Or you can decide to freeze the available embryo and do embryo transfer a bit later.
- Embryo transfer
Our fertility consultants transfer the embryo chosen by our embryologists under ultrasound guidance into your uterus in our specially-designed embryo transfer room.
- Pregnancy Test
You can take a pregnancy test at home two weeks after your embryo transfer.
What are the success rates for IVF treatment with donor eggs?
According to current statistics, the success rate after thawing a frozen embryo is much higher, and in general, when the donor’s cell is used, the success rates are impressive. However, they vary from clinic to clinic.
What are the Risks for an egg donor?
Egg donors encounter the same risks as women going through conventional IVF. In addition, the fertility drugs taken to stimulate the ovaries come with risks and side effects that the donor must know about.
The most significant risk to the donor is developing OHSS – Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. Yet, everything depends on how the treatment scheme goes. The process should develop under the supervision of a doctor who can immediately get involved and reduce the dosage of the medication. The donor should know the signs and symptoms of OHSS to be dealt with quickly. In rare cases, untreated OHSS can threaten her fertility and even life.
There are psychological risks to the donor, as well. For example, the donor may regret donating her eggs or wonder what happened to the eggs retrieved and the child conceived with her support. Many donors undergo feelings of satisfaction and pride in helping a family. Therefore, speaking to a counselor before the donation is significant and casually required by egg donor programs.
What are the expenses?
Egg donor IVF is quite costly. Nevertheless, the prices vary from country to country. The costs differ depending on the source of the egg donor, as well. There are also IVF refund programs that offer insurance if treatment fails. If you can’t conceive, you will get at the lowest part of your money back. You can also find ways to pay less and finance your IVF treatment
Conclusion
As you can see, the IVF method using donor eggs is quite a complex procedure. However, this may be a path that can lead you and your beloved partner to your goal of having a long-awaited baby. Thus, every journey that will help you achieve this is worth it!
At Royal Surrogacy, we have years of expertise in creating families through egg donation. We offer only fresh donor eggs and a wide choice of donors for our patients’ treatment. With our personalized approach, you will have a dedicated member of our team taking care of you throughout your journey, providing you with needed support.
