Egg Donation

Egg donation is when a donor gives her egg to the recipient to get pregnant. Sometimes the recipient might involve an intended parent or a surrogate who will carry a child for the intended parent. The donor must take medications that help in preparing several eggs in a single cycle. The egg is then retrieved and fertilized with sperm in a laboratory using Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART).

The process of egg donation:

• The egg donor receives hormone injections to increase the production of eggs than usual. Once the egg gets mature and is ready to be retrieved, the specialist schedules the process.
• The doctor gives a sedative to the egg donor and inserts an ultrasound-guided needle to retrieve an egg from each matured follicle.
• The egg is fertilized in the laboratory using your partner’s or donor’s sperm. This complex series of procedures is known as IVF.
• The fertilized egg is implanted into the recipient’s womb.

The donor egg recipient process

Preparing yourself for embryo transfer is similar to preparing yourself for IVF. The doctor will thoroughly review the medical background to ensure that the treatment is the best option. The recipient’s womb is then synced with the donor’s stimulation to prepare the donor. If a woman is undergoing her monthly cycle, medication is used to suppress her ovary and the cycle. The donor starts to take medication which will help to stimulate the ovaries and the recipient will be given estrogen to develop the endometrium.

The recipient will take progesterone around the time of egg retrieval to enable the implantation of the embryo. The embryo will then be transferred to the recipient’s womb after three to five days of fertilization. The hormones will be continuously given until the pregnancy test, and if the result is positive, the hormone intake will continue until the first trimester.

Who uses egg donation?

• Women who produce low egg quality or no egg yet wish to have a biological child with their partner.
• Women who only have an intact uterus and no ovary.
• Women with genetic factors
• Women over 42 years.