Egg Donation

Emmamumof2

I am interested to know if anyone has done this?


I'm in the early stages of looking into it and naively I didn't realize the wider reaching 'discussion points' surrounding this.


I had endometriosis before my children were born and we feared we wouldn't be able to conceive so it has gotten me thinking a lot about couples who can't conceive and of whom this would be useful to, so that's my reasoning.


However, after reading the documentation it makes the point any children could ask for your details once they are 18 and try to 'find you', in a similar way to adoption I guess. I hadn't even thought about the baby actually being my biological child since I won't be carrying it....but....that is obviously a big area to consider.


Has anyone done this? Has anyone benefited from egg donation? Does anyone in the 'know' have any guidance or advice or input....obviously it won't be the deciding factor but just interested to hear of anyone else's experiences.....

bizzybee

Yes, I've donated and know it resulted in twin girls for the recipient. They will be 17 in September.

I actually chose to not remain anonymous, this was before you weren't given the choice.

LilElvis

Emmamumof2 wrote: »

I am interested to know if anyone has done this?


I'm in the early stages of looking into it and naively I didn't realize the wider reaching 'discussion points' surrounding this.


I had endometriosis before my children were born and we feared we wouldn't be able to conceive so it has gotten me thinking a lot about couples who can't conceive and of whom this would be useful to, so that's my reasoning.


However, after reading the documentation it makes the point any children could ask for your details once they are 18 and try to 'find you', in a similar way to adoption I guess. I hadn't even thought about the baby actually being my biological child since I won't be carrying it....but....that is obviously a big area to consider.


Has anyone done this? Has anyone benefited from egg donation? Does anyone in the 'know' have any guidance or advice or input....obviously it won't be the deciding factor but just interested to hear of anyone else's experiences.....

Hi Emma,

Pressing the thanks button isn't anywhere near enough for how I feel about you even considering donation.

Yesterday our little girl had her final settling in session in preparation for starting school in September and her 'graduation ceremony' at preschool. A momentous day for any parent, but one we only had because of the generosity of a lady like you who gave us the precious gift of 5 eggs.

If I get chance I will post more later, or you can pm me if you would like.

Person_one

Its not a straightforward procedure. I believe it involves taking a course of hormone injections, and then having the eggs 'retrieved' by a needle into the abdomen under sedation. There are risks, women have died donating eggs, although its very rare.

I think I would consider it for somebody I knew and cared about if they wanted a donor and there was a shortage of eggs, but I don't think I would be prepared to take the risks (both the physical danger to my health and the chance of an 18 year old bowling up looking for a new mum) for a stranger. That's the way I feel about donating my kidneys/liver etc. too so there's some consistency there!

codemonkey

I think in allowing the anonymity to be removed, they're discouraging people from coming forward. We discussed sperm donors with the clinic and they told us that since that legislation was passed they lost most of their donors (mostly medical students who did it for £50 to take to the pub) and that they had no sperm and a waiting list of couples.

If you do go ahead with it, you'd be doing such a generous thing for a couple, but I really do understand why it would be offputting.

Margoriglick

Emma, thank you for even thinking about doing something like this.
Ive recently just done a cycle of ivf which unfortunately failed.
To donate eggs you'd firstly have to under go quite a lot of tests and would have to see a counsellor along with your partner/husband. If accepted onto the egg share programme you'd then wait to be matched with a recipient, once matched you'd both normally start to take the pill to match your cycles up. Dependent on the results of your amh blood test would be the length of time that you would be injecting for. If yours is within the normal range it could be anything from 1 month up to 3. You would normally inject 2 or 3 times a day. Mine was twice a day. I also had to go for internal scan and blood tests every other day. Once the follicles are around 18mm you'd do a trigger shot which would make the body ovulate, you'd then under go egg collection 36 hours later. This is done under a heavy sedation, they use a ultrasound to guide a needle inside the vagina and then go through the wall to each follicle and the contents are then sucked out through the needle. They do this for each follicle. Not all of them will contain a egg. This can be very uncomfortable and can lead to some bleeding. There is a risk of Ovarian Hyperstimulstion Syndrome too, this can be dangerous but no ones died for many years from this.
The whole process to be honest is pooh and one of the most challenging things I've ever done. I felt ill throughout and gained 20lbs.
This is a massive thing to do for someone, especially someone you don't know.
The child will be able to have your details when 18 but most if these would just want to say thank you and/or ask why you donated. I went to a meeting of children born from donor eggs. None of these thought of the donor as a parent or ever wanted anything from them. They have their own parents.
I hope this makes sense and I haven't waffled too much. I can't see a lot as I'm on my phone. Xx

Person_one

Margoriglick wrote: »

This can be very uncomfortable and can lead to some bleeding. There is a risk of Ovarian Hyperstimulstion Syndrome too, this can be dangerous but no ones died for many years from this.

The most recent death from OHSS in this country appears to have been in 2005, so yes its rare, but its still something that needs to be considered when making the decision. Its not the only complication, and not the only potentially serious/fatal one. Women have died far more recently in other countries including developed ones like the US from OHSS and haemorrhage.

If the OP chooses to do more formal research though, I'm sure she'll be presented with statistics/accurate information on the risks in order to make an informed choice.

Margoriglick

Yes I'm positive she will. I was just trying to give a quick run down.

bizzybee

Margoriglick wrote: »

Emma, thank you for even thinking about doing something like this.
Ive recently just done a cycle of ivf which unfortunately failed.
To donate eggs you'd firstly have to under go quite a lot of tests and would have to see a counsellor along with your partner/husband. If accepted onto the egg share programme you'd then wait to be matched with a recipient, once matched you'd both normally start to take the pill to match your cycles up. Dependent on the results of your amh blood test would be the length of time that you would be injecting for. If yours is within the normal range it could be anything from 1 month up to 3. You would normally inject 2 or 3 times a day. Mine was twice a day. I also had to go for internal scan and blood tests every other day. Once the follicles are around 18mm you'd do a trigger shot which would make the body ovulate, you'd then under go egg collection 36 hours later. This is done under a heavy sedation, they use a ultrasound to guide a needle inside the vagina and then go through the wall to each follicle and the contents are then sucked out through the needle. They do this for each follicle. Not all of them will contain a egg. This can be very uncomfortable and can lead to some bleeding. There is a risk of Ovarian Hyperstimulstion Syndrome too, this can be dangerous but no ones died for many years from this.
The whole process to be honest is pooh and one of the most challenging things I've ever done. I felt ill throughout and gained 20lbs.
This is a massive thing to do for someone, especially someone you don't know.
The child will be able to have your details when 18 but most if these would just want to say thank you and/or ask why you donated. I went to a meeting of children born from donor eggs. None of these thought of the donor as a parent or ever wanted anything from them. They have their own parents.
I hope this makes sense and I haven't waffled too much. I can't see a lot as I'm on my phone. Xx

I have to admit that after the 'harvesting' I was in a lot of discomfort that lasted several days, like you've been kicked in the stomach.

There was a counselling process before I was accepted which was very in-depth, I guess to ensure that you were psychologically capable of going through the whole procedure.

I am aware that from next year I may be contacted by the girls but think I am prepared for that, should it happen.

The Donor Sibling Registry, whilst being a US site has some good reports in their library that are worth reading.

I have no regrets and I would do it all again, but I'm too old now, so can't. I'm just happy that I was able to give one couple something they so desperately wanted.

tea_lover

Person_one wrote: »

The most recent death from OHSS in this country appears to have been in 2005, so yes its rare, but its still something that needs to be considered when making the decision. Its not the only complication, and not the only potentially serious/fatal one. Women have died far more recently in other countries including developed ones like the US from OHSS and haemorrhage.

Also, even when not fatal, OHSS can make you feel so ill you'd be quite happy to die. I'm not trying to put you off OP, far from it, but it is important that anyone going into this understands the risks, of which OHSS is common (not common for it to be fatal, but common in some form).

As others have said, you would have to go through counselling before donating which is a great opportunity to consider all the issues.

Emmamumof2

Yes I understand there is a lot of counseling involved which is good obviously. Im not frightened of the injecting or the actual retrieval process, lord knows I had enough laparoscopies when I was suffering with the endometriosis! Although it's a bit worrying that its under sedation as oppose to a GA, although I understand that's probably again for safety.


I think the big thing for us would be the chance that a child, or five, could rock up as an adult in 18 years and say "hi, I'm your biological child", and as much as I'm sure they wouldn't necessarily be wanting of anything that could be a tough thing for us as a family, having three kids of our own.


I do think its a priceless gift that is worth giving due consideration and researching to reach the right decision for us.


Do you get to know anything about the family the eggs go to? I'll obviously ask the clinic but wondered if anyone knew. I think at 16 the 'child' could ask for vague details like height/weight/physical attributes/our families size etc but it's not until 18 they can access your details for contact.


I wonder how many people who are the recipients of eggs actually tell their children they were as a result of egg donation, it's not like adoption, where the child is conceived with totally different biological parents and I've carried the child, it's a donation of a cell, of sorts, which is only a baby once fertilized by the sperm....that's how I'm looking at it anyway.....


Certainly lots of food for thought!