Using Donor Eggs to Achieve Pregnancy – A Step by Step Guide

As more and more women postpone having children until they are in their late 30′s, many have come to the disappointing realization that they are unable to have children without help. According to a December 2009 Center for Disease Control and Prevention report, about 12 percent of U.S. Women of childbearing age utilized the service of a fertility clinic in 2007. In that year, 57,564 babies were born as the result of about 140,000 artificial reproductive technology cycles performed in 430 clinics in the U.S.

Many women who seek the help of artificial reproductive technology are successful in having children through in-vitro fertilization (IVF) using their own eggs. However, many cannot, due to the quality of their eggs. As a result, many turn to using donor eggs.

Using donor eggs is a viable alternative if you cannot achieve pregnancy ung your own eggs. Here’s a step-by-step guide on what to do if you are considering using donor eggs to have children:

1. You first consult with a medical clinic specialized in fertility treatment to determine if you are physically able to accept an embryo implant from IVF procedures and carry a fetus to term. In addition your husband or male partner is tested for any infertility issues. Your doctor recommends that you go through the IVF process with your own eggs first before considering donor eggs.
2. If your own eggs are not viable, your other option is to use donor eggs. Some fertility clinics keep their own database of egg donors while other clinics work with outside egg donor agencies. Generally, donors from your fertility clinic are local so the selection can be somewhat limited. Egg donor agencies offer a wide selection of donors from across the country that can broaden your choices.
3. After you register with an egg donor agency, you can study detailed profiles of donors online. Donor profiles can include their general personal information, hobbies, profession, physical characteristics, ethnicity, childbearing history, medical history and physical traits of the donor and her family members.
4. Most intended parents select donors based on physical characteristics that are similar to the intended mothers. If you have green eyes and curly brown hair, you might want to select a donor with green eyes and curly brown hair. Some intended parents try to design their future babies with donors chosen based on beauty, talents or academic achievements instead of physical resemblance.
5. You should only consider using donors between the ages of 21 to 30. The quality of eggs usually goes down for donors over age 30.
6. In 99% of the cases, egg donation is anonymous. Occasionally, the intended parents and the egg donor mutually agree to disclose their identities to one another. This is called an open donation.
7. Once you’ve selected your potential egg donor(s), you will contact the agency to inquire of their availability.
8. The egg donor agency contacts the donor and ascertains that she is available. You sign an agreement with the agency and pay their program fee. The agency fee is typically non-refundable. You can pick another donor without paying the fee again if your first egg donor changes her mind or fails screening.
9. Aside from the agency program fee, you also send in the donor compensation fee. Your agency doesn’t release the funds to your donor until egg retrieval is completed. Egg donor compensation fee can range from $3,500 to as much as $35,000 depending on the agency and the donor. The average compensation is $5,000 to $7,000. You should keep in mind that it’s unlawful in the U.S. to buy or sell human tissues. Therefore, the donor is truly donating her eggs and not selling them. Whatever compensation you pay to the egg donor is for her time, discomfort and potential health risks. It’s against industry guidelines to offer more compensation to donors with special musical talents, high SAT scores, or college degrees even though many egg donor agencies promote that on their websites.
10. Your egg donor agency then sends a match package to your IVF clinic. The match package contains the donor’s personal identification information, her profile, medical history and previous donation records, if any.
11. Your IVF clinic schedules a screening appointment with your donor. This screening includes a physical, an ultrasound, a meeting with a social worker, and a psychological evaluation as well as a MMPI test.
12. If your donor passes screening, you will contract with an attorney specialized in assisted reproduction to draw up a legal agreement with the egg donor. You also pay for a second attorney to assist the egg donor to finalize the agreement.
13. After the egg donation agreement is signed, your donor will be provided with injectable hormones to stimulate egg production. Meanwhile, you are given hormonal injections to synchronize your cycle with the egg donor.
14. Your donor will be monitored by your clinic or another medical facility for progress including frequent blood tests and ultrasound. Depending on her progress, an egg retrieval appointment is scheduled about four to six weeks from the initial screening.
15. After egg retrieval, viable eggs are fertilized and allowed to grow into embryos. One or two embryos are then implanted into your uterus and the rest are usually frozen for future implantation.
16. Meanwhile, when the egg donor agency confirms with the IVF clinic that egg retrieval is completed, the donor compensation fee is remitted to the egg donor.

Using donor eggs is a wonderful alternative to achieve pregnancy and experience the birth of your own child if you’re unable to get pregnant with your own eggs. The option of using donor eggs in the IVF process has come a long way. Tens of thousands of women have chosen this path to pregnancy in the last 20 years.

Approximately ten days after embryo transfer, you’ll return to your clinic to hopefully receive news of a positive pregnancy outcome. Countless little miracles have been born to loving, deserving parents through the beautiful process of egg donation.

Jan A Lee is Manager of National Exchange for Egg Donation & Surrogacy LLC (NEEDS), a premier egg donor & surrogate matching agency founded in 1992.

Visit http://www.fertilityneeds.com for information on how to become an egg donor or if you wish to find the ideal egg donor for yourself.