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Click here for Conceiving Through Egg Donation (9 of 10): Confidentiality and Anonymity.

Donor Reserving, Screening, and the Egg Donation Contract

Once you’ve made your choice, signed the contract with the egg donation agency, and paid your fee, your clinic can start the screening process. The agency will typically send an official “match sheet” (with the names of you and your egg donor), and the donor’s complete file to the egg donor coordinator at your clinic. The donor will have to fill out the clinic’s own application as well (obtained through the agency or directly from the clinic). One of the nurses will set up the egg donor’s screening appointments, which may occur all in one day, or broken up into about three separate appointments. Screening comprises a meeting with a social worker/psychologist (an MMPI test, a Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, is sometimes administered), a meeting with a genetic counselor, a doctor’s examination, and a series of blood tests for infectious and hereditary diseases.  It takes about three to four weeks to get the results back.

Most egg donors pass their screenings. Any donor who does not will be informed by a doctor directly. If your donor does not pass, your clinic will inform you, and your agency should work hard to find you a replacement quickly. If some genetic findings are inconclusive, you will be counseled by your doctor about the possible risks, and may choose to find another egg donor.

What happens to donor eggs after they are retrieved? Do I get to know the results? Do I meet the recipients or potential offspring?

After the donor egg retrieval, the eggs are fertilized and then observed for a few days. Not all will fertilize or develop. Between one and three embryos will be transferred to the recipient. If any viable embryos are left over, they will be frozen (embryos hold up better in the freezing process than eggs do). It takes about six weeks to find out if a pregnancy results.

The majority of egg donor cycles in the US at this time are mutually anonymous: the donor egg recipients and the egg donor may know general information about each other, but they do not know each other’s names and they never meet. If working in a mutually anonymous arrangement, you may be informed of the number of donor eggs retrieved, but not the number actually fertilized or whether a pregnancy or live birth resulted. If you are working non-anonymously, you may get more information, depending on the arrangement. Some donors meet their recipients with the supervision of a social worker, and leave the opportunity open to meet any potential offspring. Both parties agree to the anonymity level before the match is made.

Click here for Conceiving Through Egg Donation (8 of 10): Repeat Egg Donors.

Anonymity and Openness in the Egg Donor/Recipient Relationship

When working with a private egg donation agency, as long as there is mutual consent between egg donor and recipient, the relationship can be as closed or as open as both parties desire.  The idea that the donor and potential offspring would knowingly meet one day instills anxiety in some donors and recipients, and comfort in others. It is a completely personal attitude.

Egg donation has not had the chance to evolve the way adoption has regarding openness and public acceptance. In the past adoption was shrouded in secrecy and anonymity, but now it is commonplace for domestic adopting parents to meet birth parents (typically before the birth), and adoption is celebrated for what it is. There still may be, for some, a stigma attached to egg donation, which creates the desire to keep it private or even secret. After all, you chose an egg donor who resembles you so your child could “pass” as your own. You don’t want your child and other family members to feel he or she is only “related” to the paternal side. On the other hand, secretiveness is unfair to the child and creates an unhealthful atmosphere. Egg donation will never lose its stigma until it is pushed out in the open by brave parents. Not everyone is willing to be a hero,

Will egg donation affect my future fertility?

No relationship between egg donation and future fertility has been clearly established, although research is continuing.

Egg donation does not deplete your ovarian reserve. Each month you release a number of eggs, but only one comes to maturity, generally. The hormones administered in the egg donation process stimulate more than one to reach maturity. Women in their 20s have hundreds of thousands of viable eggs, although the number diminishes over time.

Click here for Conceiving Through Egg Donation (7 of 10): Out-of-Town Egg Donors.

Does Using a Repeat Egg Donor Offer Any Advantage?

The ASRM guidelines allow any one donor to go through up to six egg donation cycles. Any candidates who have donated eggs before should be clearly marked as such on their profiles, for the obvious advantages she offers.

First of all, she knows exactly what she is getting into, and is less likely to have second thoughts about the process of donating eggs. Although she will have to be screened again for her next cycle, you can be assured she has already passed at least one screening, and has no major genetic or psychological issues. Secondly, you will know the results of her previous donations, which need to be good enough to qualify her for another cycle. These results will include the number of donor eggs retrieved, the number fertilized, and if enough time has passed, whether a pregnancy and live birth resulted.

If you choose a repeat donor, her egg donation records will be forwarded to your doctor for review as part of the donor’s screening. If you have any questions about the results, ask the clinic to send redacted records directly to your doctor to get an informed opinion. Don’t jump to any conclusions about the number of donor eggs retrieved or pregnancy results.  Keep in mind that factors beyond egg quality determine pregnancy and live birth.

What are the costs involved for me and do I need medical insurance?

You are not responsible for any medical costs and any long distance travel expenses will be paid by the recipients.

A special egg donor insurance policy will be purchased for you to cover any complications, whether you have your own insurance or not.

Click here for Conceiving Through Egg Donation (6 of 10): Egg Donor Profiles.

Using an “Out-of-Town” Egg Donor

Some egg donors are able to travel to make their donations. Be aware that if you choose a donor beyond the vicinity of your clinic, you will be responsible for all travel expenses, including car fuel, airfare, hotel, food, and other incidentals, including the same for a travel companion in some cases. The egg donation agency will coordinate the donor’s schedule and handle all the arrangements, but will require money ahead of time based on estimates.

The typical cycle for out of town egg donors will require up to three separate trips. The screening requires about two days. A few weeks later, the FDA lab tests will require one day (these may be done in the donor’s home town, depending on the clinic’s policy). The third trip covers the monitoring and egg retrieval, and here protocols vary from clinic to clinic. Some allow nearly all the monitoring off-site at a clinic near the egg donor’s home town. Others require a full five or six days of on-site monitoring leading up to the retrieval. Both you and your agency should contact your clinic’s egg donor coordinator to find out their protocols.

Travel makes the process more complicated and expensive, but they can be worth it to work with the donor you want.

How are egg donors matched with recipients at your agency?

At this current stage in technology, donor eggs are not frozen for later use. So a specific recipient has to choose you before you can donate.

When working with our egg donation agency, a recipient will select you from the donor database, and only then will you begin your medical screening. You may work with a local clinic or one in a different city, if that is convenient for you.

Before you start your medications, you will be presented with an egg donor contract and provided an attorney to review its terms with you (the clinic will present you with a consent form as well).

Click here for Conceiving Through Egg Donation (5 of 10): Using a Private Agency.

Evaluating Egg Donor Profiles

Choosing an egg donor, just as with every other part of the IVF (in vitro fertilization) process, can be stressful. Unlike other components of assisted reproduction, there is no science to it. Some people have very clear ideas, and others have no set criteria at all. You may consider this choice overwhelmingly monumental, and feel pressure to make the “right” decision. But there is no right or wrong here. You just need to make a decision you feel really good about.  Most prefer egg donors who bear some resemblance to them, but they also want to feel an emotional connection. I suggest approaching the selection process with a list of prioritized criteria, but have your gut cast the deciding vote.

Different agencies present their profiles in various formats. We offer photos and summary profiles on our site. (Most recipients want to see photos, but those who don’t can choose an option not to view them.) Clients then request more information on the profiles that interest them, which we send by e-mail. Our more comprehensive profiles provide information gathered from the application as well as the interview, plus whatever additional photos of the egg donor candidates we may have on file.

In order to protect the privacy of the egg donor, we assign each one a code. We do not name the schools that they attended (but describe them as “selective 4-year private liberal arts college,” 

Can I be on the birth control pill or other form of contraception?

Yes. While applying to be an egg donor, you should continue to use your preferred form of contraception. (If you get pregnant, you are not able to donate.) During the screening and cycling process, you will be instructed to go off hormone-type contraception (the pill, Nuvaring) at certain times. Sexual activity will need to be avoided for the short cycle period, as instructed by the clinic.