Curious About Egg Donating

Hi, go to www.dreamababy.com this is the doctor we used for IVF. He is the best in the area. This web site will answer a lot of questions.

Just and FYI, I've considered this for multiple reasons, as we are also done having children. I'm not sure how old you are, but what I found is that after age 27 your eggs are no longer optimal. I am 32, and have not had any fertility problems, but they were only interested in the eggs of young girls.

I have been on the fertility side to like some of the others who have responded. I have had 3 miscarriages and 2 failed adoption placement and was thinking that it was a fertility thing. I went to a great DR at a fertility clinic here in Tampa and they said I had Lupus Anti coagulant and that i could not carry a child but my eggs were healthy as could be. This stopped our fertility and we looked into finding a surrogate but then found out how expensive it was. It is even more than adoption almost twice as much. We are still hoping to adopt but I have considered donating to as I know from the other side how much someone really could use the help. Feel free to message me if you would like the number to the place I went they were great and very friendly. It may help to talk to them to find out exactly what it is before making a decision.

I would suggest going through the Reproductive Medical Group in Tampa if you are still interested in egg donation. They have 5 doctors over a variety of locations from Brandon to Tampa. We used them for fertility treatments and IVF, and they are excellent. I originally thought I would donate the remainder of my eggs after IVF, to help defray the very expensive costs of IVF. They put you though an extensive screening process where you undergo genetic testing, psychological evaluations and medical testing. I ended up not qualifying for donation because I didn't produce enough additional eggs. However, I have a miracle son that is worth everything we went through!!!! Then if you are approved, you start fertility medications to increase the number of eggs to harvest. Honestly the meds are not fun, they are injectibles (for IVF anyways) but not too bad. You have to be closely monitored during this time because of possible complications from producing so many eggs. Then they put you under for a short time and harvest the eggs. That part really wasn't a big deal and you rest for a day or so. If you are serious, I would contact them and make an appt for information. For someone who went through years of fertility treatments, you could make someone's dream come true!!!!! We didn't have to use donor eggs, but often people that do sometimes had cancer young or other medical problems that keep them from producing enough eggs and they deserve the chance to be a mom and experience the miracle of being pregnant and having kids!!! Good luck, it isn't that bad and your small discomfort can bring a lifetime of joy to a very deserving family!!! I'm not sure what the compensation is because we only looked at it for helping reduce costs of our own treatment. Good luck! Let me know if you need any contact info about that group of doctors.

It was about 15 years ago when I thought about this. I was in college and saw an ad in the school paper offering a lot of money for donated eggs. I called assuming it was a clinic or something and was very surprised that it was a woman who wanted a baby and had decided to be very proactive and find her own donor. She asked me my eye and hair color, and height and weight and SAT scores! I was shocked, but I guess I shouldn't have been because it was Manhattan and the ad was in an ivy league paper. The woman seemed very intense and very, well, desperate, and the conversation was quite awkward. Egg donors (at that time, anyway) were required to take drugs to increase the typical egg supply. And then the removal process is not a comfortable one. But the main thing you really need to consider is your comfort level with having a little piece of YOU walking around out there forever. A piece of you that you will never know. Or, alternatively, with all of the openness surrounding adoption/surrogacy/donation these days, it's possible that the person you created may contact you some day out of the blue and desire a relationship, or at least some information, or to meet you. I decided that I couldn't do it. They were offering $10,000. That seemed like a fortune to me at the time, but I am so glad I didn't do it. If you do decide to pursue it, definitely go through a very highly reputable clinic. They should most certainly have a detailed orientation when they explain all the details, and a screening process to make sure all donors really know what they're getting into. You really need to prepare for all the possibilities -- if the couple gets pregnant and there are still some remaining eggs they don't need, will the eggs be destroyed? And how do you feel about that? If something happens to the couple during the process (tragic fatal accident, or they get divorced or change their minds about trying to get pregnant), then what happens to your/their eggs? And how do you feel about that? There's really a lot to consider. I'd be curious to read other responses, especially from someone who has been a donor. Good luck with your soul searching and your decision.

I have not been an egg donor but went through in vitro fertilization to have my first daughter and the process is very similar from a medical standpoint. I would strongly recommend starting with a local fertility clinic. The procedure may vary slightly between clinics, but as others have said, there will be a lot of questions to answer, medical tests to pass, possibly a DNA profile, etc.

I don't know if they use oral drugs (like clomid) or injectables for egg harvesting. Obviously, oral drugs are easier than the shots. I did orals with insemination (IUI) and injectibles with in vitro (IVF). The drugs do have side effects from mood swings to hot flashes, irritation at the injection site, etc. They can be pretty severe in some women. Mine were not as bad as I had heard from others and read on the internet, but I had a lot of trouble controlling my reactions to things. It was way worse that the worst PMS I'd ever had. My husband and I decided it would not be fair to our 2 year old to have an "unstable" (drugged!) mother so we would not go through IVF again.

Even if you take a pill like clomid, there will be a shot at some point to cause ovulation at a controlled time. You'll have a transvaginal ultrasound prior to that shot to determine the progress of your egg follicles and when the maximum number would be ripe for harvest. The shot is in your stomach. I had to have my hubby administer it. I learned to give myself the other shots (in my thighs) but just couldn't "stomach" the belly shot (ha ha).

Once they've determined when the eggs will be ripe, you'll have to go in for the harvesting process. You'll need someone to drive you because they'll give you a valium or relaxant like that beforehand. You'll need it! I went through that process twice with IVF. The first time wasn't too bad - not that much worse than a pap smear - just took longer. However, the second time hurt like hell, quite frankly. I was crying, couldn't hold still (flinching, squirming, etc.). It's a miracle they were able to do what they needed to do. After the procedure, you'll have to take it easy the rest of the day but then you'll be fine. I'm not sure if there's any effect to your body of the eggs just disappearing like that and not being put back in. You may have a heavier period, etc.

The only other side effect I can remember is that clomid gave me ovarian cysts. At the time, the doctors acted like that was fairly common. So I'd be there trying to get pregnant, I'd take clomid, get cysts and have to go on the pill for a month to clear up the cysts. Then I'd go back on the clomid again and repeat the cycle. It was hard on my body to have my hormones jerked around like that for years (literally) until we conceived.

As others have mentioned, you would have to be OK with the potential of children from your eggs walking around out there. A fertility clinic would be able to tell you more about the potential legal ramifications of that.

The last thing I would say is that this should be a family decision. OK, not to involve the toddlers necessarily (although if they find out in the future they may wonder about any half-siblings they have running around), but if you have a significant other, yes, because the drugs and the procedures *will* have an effect on your family as well. Of course, so would the money but you didn't mention that as being a factor.

There is a lot to consider. I'd recommend starting with an appt. at a fertility clinic and see what they have to say. Good Luck and I commend you for being willing to consider this. I hope this helped some.

I really don't know much about it, however, a good friend is the owner of a business called Our Fairy Godmother that specializes in that. It is located in Naples.

You still have to take drugs, well medication to give. They want to be able to harvest more than one egg. You will take medication like fertility pills that cause your body to release a lot more eggs than normal. Then they go in and remove them. It is not as open as adoption. It is a medical procedure. With medical confidentiality laws that stuff is a lot more hush hush. You may have more than one piece of you. If they are able to harvest 10 eggs, they will implant 5 right away, and freeze five. The family that you donated eggs to, may become pregnant with multiples. They may also go back and use the other 5 frozen eggs. God blessed me with 2 children very young, so I do not speak from first hand knowledge. However I know of someone who is pregnant right now with triplets from egg donor. I also know of someone who as a beautiful baby girl from egg donation. The one thing I can say about both of these mothers is that that they wanted to be mothers so badly that they were willing to spend outragious amounts of money to be here. They also have husbands who make enough that they can afford to spend outreagious amounts of money to do this. It is not covered under medical insurance. Once you actually become pregnant, the pregnancy is, but until they your treatment as the donor, and the fertilization and implanting is all out of pocket. I hope that this information is helpful. If you are done having children, maybe this is something that you could do to help someone who wants to be a mother and can't.

You can go to the Reproductive Medicine Group website (www.floridafertility.com). I know that it will tell you all of the qualifications, but it may not tell you the procedure. On a basic note - the procedure is similar to going through IVF, you just don't get past the egg retrieval stage. They will set you up with a shot regimine based on age, weight, physical condition, etc. that will help you produce eggs. This is usually a 3-4 week period. They will monitor the egg development and growth during the period and once you get to the right stage they will surgically remove the eggs vaginally. During the period of egg development you will be limited to what you can do - no running, jumping, lifting things (like your children), no exhertion of any kind. Once they retrieve the eggs you are done.

After going through IVF myself, I would have loved to do the egg donor thing (my eggs are fine - it was a male factor). I waited too late though and now I am too old.

Kudos for even considering it! There are so many women out there that need this to even get pregnant!

Good luck,
Sam