When a couple first learns they’re infertile, the last thing they can imagine is the incredible moment of bringing a baby home. This is particularly true for women with poor egg quality whose options appear limited. These couples shouldn’t despair. There’s an effective fertility treatment they may not have considered, and it’s rapidly growing in popularity. In vitro fertilization incorporating the egg donation process gives hope to couples by keeping their dream of starting a family alive.
Donor Egg Success Rates
Unfortunately, a women’s poor egg quality is a major barrier to pregnancy. This is especially true for older women, who experience lower success rates with traditional IVF. The use of donor eggs in IVF cycles significantly increases the chance of a successful pregnancy for these women. The national average delivery rate using frozen donor eggs is approximately 44%.
The Donor Egg IVF Process
The donor egg IVF process is similar to traditional IVF with your own eggs. The biggest difference in using frozen eggs is it’s far less invasive for the recipients.
Donor egg recipients avoid having to undergo the stimulation and egg retrieval process, as well as any risk of failing to retrieve viable eggs. Also, bypassing this part of the process means time and money saved.
Selecting a Donor Egg Program
When selecting a donor egg program or service, you should research their egg donor database and screening processes.
Ideally, you should have access to a wide variety of egg donors along with important information about them, such as family medical history, physical characteristics, education, and accomplishments. Further, you should ask about the screening process potential donors undergo to qualify.
Depending on the program, you may be able to choose between using fresh or frozen donor eggs. If you choose fresh donor eggs, you and the donor’s menstrual cycles need to be synchronized. Synchronization isn’t necessary when using frozen donor eggs. The process can start at the time that’s most convenient for you, and costs around half as much as using fresh donor eggs.
Getting Support
During the donor egg process, it’s not unusual to experience a range of strong emotions such as grief, anger, anxiety, fear, and sadness.
Having a thorough understanding of the process can provide some relief. Experienced donor egg programs will ensure qualified staff members are available to answer any of your questions or concerns. Also, you may like to seek support from a counselor or trusted medical professional during this time.
Donor Egg Delivery
If you choose to use frozen donor eggs, your selected donor egg lot will be shipped to your preferred fertility clinic. To give you the best chance of achieving pregnancy, each lot includes between five to eight mature eggs.
The IVF Transfer
Your donor eggs remain frozen in storage while you prepare for the IVF transfer. You’ll need to take medications to thicken your uterine lining. Your fertility doctor will then monitor your hormones and lining to identify the optimal time for transfer.
Once your optimal time is determined, the eggs will be quickly re-hydrated or warmed, and your partner’s (or donor’s) sperm will be used to fertilize the eggs. Three to five days later, your fertilized eggs will become embryos, the best of which are selected for transfer. The selected embryo or embryos will be transferred into your uterus using ultrasound technology and a thin catheter. This process doesn’t require an anaesthetic and is painless for most women.
The Waiting Period
The final part of the donor egg IVF process is the two-week waiting period before taking a blood test to measure the level of HCG {Human Chorionic Gonadotropin}, also known as the pregnancy hormone, to confirm pregnancy.
If all goes well, you’ll receive a positive result and experience pregnancy the same as any other prospective parent.
Realize Your Dream of Having a Baby
If you’re having trouble conceiving with your own eggs, donor egg IVF can help you realize the dream of bringing a baby home.
18 Comments
Its nice that there are many options now for couples who wanted to have a baby (but cannot). For one, I have a female cousin who go married a year ago but finds it difficult to have a baby. Another factor is that she is already past the 4-0 mark and have been busy with her career prior to marriage. I think they’ll wait for another year before IVF.
Yes, great help for women like your cousin. A source of hope, too, for those who have been struggling for years to have a baby.
Infertility really happens to some women. I know someone who experienced a problem in getting pregnant again because of fertility issue. She took some medicine to cure it and she got pregnant again.
It does, and it is a very stressful experience. Good to know that there are a lot of ways to help women who suffer from infertility and would like to get pregnant again.
Oh wow, I just realized now that this actually happens. I had a friend who had to go through the fertility process and talagang bed rest for more than 8 months just to conceive a baby. But I’m not sure if she had an egg donor or if the doctor just helped them with her fertility kasi lagi silang nawawalan ng baby.
I guess it is different for every woman. The beauty of this is that no matter what sort of infertility problem someone is going through, they can now avail of the best solution in order to conceive and, finally, have a baby. It was no easy feat what your friend had to go through but I am sure it was all worth it in the end.
I’m one of those women who never have difficulty getting pregnant. I know that for a lot of women that’s not the case. It’s so great though that they now have options and can still have their own child because of technological advancements. It’s really amazing!
I’m single and so far not considering anything to check my own fertility, however I’m 29 and I definitely want kids. I’ve come to think to freeze my eggs just in case, however I haven’t really checked about the procedure or how much it will cost, or whether the service is actually available in my home country. To be fair, if God forbid something actually happened with my fertility or my partner’s, I think adoption would always be my fair choice as well in a way so I could spread love to those needed. 🙂
This actually happens. And its life changing that nowadays, these methods are now avaible. Thanks to science and technology. I have known some couples who have undergone ivf and it was a success. Options are not anymore limited.
Infertility is a real challenge to some couples. I have friends who got married ahead of me and my husband but it took them years before they were able to conceive. Another friend even went to Sta. Clara in Obando to dance. They were blessed to get pregnant after that.
I am not sure if this method already exist in early 70s and 80s. My uncle and my auntie should have taken this option. Unfortunately they never had a chance to have a baby of their own (I don’t know though which of them is infertile). They are already in their 60s so this is no longer applicable for them. However, despite the fact that they never get a child, they adopted a kid who just graduated college a year ago.
Yes it is no longer a problem for infertile couples to have babies. Science has advanced tremendously. However I was not very aware of the various process to be followed for having the baby. This post was very informative in that respect.
Technology has its wonders, isn’t it? I never knew about this up until I read this. All the while, I would think that adoption is the only way to have a kid if you’re infertile. Alas, the world is truly evolving to have these options to choose from!
It’s nice to know that there is egg donor IVF. I think another option for women who don’t want to marry anytime soon is to have their eggs frozen. This way, by the time they are ready to have a baby, they can still have one. And the baby is really theirs. Anyway, hoping those women who have their eggs frozen and sell it have good genetics.
Technology truly makes everyone’s dream almost possible. That is how i view it. That even having a child is possible because of science and technology. As there is nothing wrong with the act, I just cant accept the fact that God can sometimes not give what our heart desires.
I didn’t know that there are really a broad options for couples to own a baby and with your post, you have proven it. I find it very interesting as I rarely read an article like this. I love how you have written it in a concise, but filled with great information. It is actually well elucidated and I love how you spread awareness on this through your blog post. Thank you so much for sharing this with us.
I don’t have any friends or family that have tried IVF but I read online somewhere that it’s quite expensive also. But I’m sure that moment they find our they’re pregnant is the best feeling in the world. It’s so amazing what science can do!