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Egg Donation: What You Need to Know

Many people all over the world begin their families with donated eggs. Same-sex couples, a single person ready to start a family, and couples struggling with fertility issues can all begin the journey to parenthood. Infertility is a fairly common issue. Lots of things can cause infertility in men and women, environmental risk factors, medical problems, medications, and other causes. Sometimes an egg donation can give a woman struggling with infertility the ability to experience pregnancy. Egg donation can also give a gay couple the ability to produce their own genetic offspring.

Fresh egg donation allows a woman to synchronize her IVF cycle with the egg donors and carry an embryo created with donated eggs. The eggs are fertilized in a lab to create embryos that can be transferred into the uterus of a gestational surrogate or the woman who will carry the pregnancy. Egg donors also sometimes donate eggs which are then frozen, either as eggs to be fertilized later or as fertilized embryos. Some women want to freeze their own eggs so they can focus on their careers and use the eggs later themselves or with a gestational surrogate. There is also a technique used for men with a decreased sperm count to increase the chances of egg fertilization, called intracytoplasmic sperm injection. This is when the sperm is injected directly into the egg to fertilize it, instead of placing the sperm and egg together in a petri dish.

Fresh or frozen eggs can be used to create an embryo. Frozen eggs or frozen embryos can be shipped directly to an IVF clinic. They can be purchased in small groups and there are many choices of donor ethnicities. With fresh egg donation, there are usually more eggs available in a batch, but this can be unpredictable. Although the chances of pregnancy are slightly higher with fresh egg donation, there may also be extra costs for the egg donor to travel to the chosen IVF clinic.

Whether they are going to be donating fresh or frozen eggs, all egg donors go through an intensive medical and psychological screening process as well as provide detailed health and genetic history. Genetic testing and hormone level testing can be done with a fresh egg donation. When a fertility specialist looks at an egg donor’s Anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) level, which decreases with age and is connected to the number of developing eggs in an ovary, the specialist can have an indicator of how many eggs will be harvested in a fresh egg donation.

Conclusion

Using donor eggs can be a big decision. But it can also be the most rewarding path to becoming a parent. The egg donor can be completely anonymous or there may be some amount of availability for communication. This is completely up to the egg donor and the recipient. When using donated eggs, the intended parent or parents can pick from many donor characteristics so that they can share characteristics with their baby. For many hopeful parents, donated eggs are the best choice for fulfilling their dreams of starting a family.

If you are ready to become an Egg Donor with GSHC Surrogacy Agency, please complete our Egg Donor Intake Form.