What You Should Know About Egg Donation As An Alternate Route To Pregnancy

By Heidi J. Dillon


Women who do not ovulate every month due to aging or a hormonal imbalance, fail to produce a mature egg, which will most likely lower their chances of becoming pregnant. Egg donation is one viable alternative for women who struggle with this particular issue, it involves being impregnated with an egg which has been donated by another woman and fertilized with sperm from one's partner.

More often than not, candidates for this approach are older women, possibly close to menopause, who may fail to ovulate reliably or the quality of their own eggs may be questionable due to their age. Chemotherapy or surgical removal of the ovaries are other reasons for using this approach. A family doctor or gynecologist can recommend these women for treatment at a facility that performs this procedure.

It can be very costly to receive this treatment, and most other assisted reproductive procedures for that matter as well. This cost covers all stages from pre-screening to implantation in addition to compensation for the donor, and it usually runs several thousands to tens of thousands of dollars. A contract must also be signed between the two parties since it also has a legal aspect in terms of responsibilities and rights.

The process of selecting a donor is done anonymously except in cases where a friend or family member agrees to act as a donor. Potential recipients can select donors who meet their preferred criteria in terms of appearance, education, ethnicity and such, they must also prepare a letter introducing themselves that will be given to any donors of interest. Donors who accept a recipient's request are considered a match.

The first step in the whole process is to synchronize the menstrual cycles of both the recipient and the donor. On day one of the donor's period, her ovarian function will be evaluated through ultrasound and blood tests, and she will be given birth control pills. Eventually other fertility drugs in the form of both injections and pills will be taken as well.

The donor's present ovulation pattern will cease as she takes oral contraceptives and daily gonadotropin injections for about a month. Following this round of medications, she will then have a period that will occur at the same time as that of the recipient, which is necessary for successful embryo implantation.

Next, the donor will inject herself each day with drugs to stimulate her ovaries to produce multiple eggs, the development of which will be closely monitored through ultrasound and blood tests throughout the process. When the eggs are fully matured, she will inject herself with human chorionic gonadotropin to facilitate their release, just over a day later they will be harvested and fertilized with sperm. The recipient also takes hormone injections to prevent ovulation and thicken her uterine lining. Two to four embryos are implanted into the recipient's womb through a cervical catheter after several days.

Many couples become parents through this procedure, although sometimes in vitro techniques fail, and the pregnancy ends in miscarriage. The hormones taken can also cause side effects in some patients such as breast tenderness, mood swings, hot flashes, and very rarely pain and swelling from hyper-stimulation of the ovaries.




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