After the initial application, what exactly is involved when you go through the egg donation process and officially become an egg donor?
There are only three steps to the egg donation process once you’ve been selected by a recipient to be an egg donor: cycle synchronization, ovarian stimulation, and egg retrieval. To get to this stage of the egg donation process you have already come a long way! At this point, you have completed the initial testing, attended Donor Day, met with a psychological counselor, and been officially approved to become an egg donor. Once approved, your Donor Profile (also called the long application) is uploaded to the private Shady Grove Fertility donor database and the egg donation process would begin as soon as a couple chooses you to be their egg donor.
The Three-Step Egg Donation Process
Step one: Cycle Synchronization
After the match is made, your nurse will contact you to schedule cycle synchronization. During a fresh cycle, we synchronize the donor’s and recipient’s cycles using birth control so that both women ovulate at the same time.
Step two: Ovarian Stimulation
At this stage, you will be prescribed fertility medication to stimulate your ovaries. These are daily injections (in your abdomen) for about 10 to 12 days. The medication will help your ovaries develop more eggs than your body would normally produce in one cycle. It’s during this step that you would come to one of our locations for monitoring appointments. Our monitoring appointments are brief and scheduled early in the morning to minimize disruption to your schedule. Monitoring your cycle provides our medical team with insight as to how well you are responding to the medications, if the medications are working, and how you are feeling .
Step Three: Egg Retrieval
The last step in the treatment process is the egg retrieval. On the day of your retrieval, your physician will meet with you to review the details of the procedure. This quick procedure takes only 20 to 30 minutes. Once under light anesthesia or twilight sedation, your physician will use a needle to remove the eggs you have produced.
After the retrieval, you are required to take the rest of the day off but can begin light activity or even return to work or school the following day. We require you to bring someone who is 18 years or older with you on the day of your procedure. He/she will need to drive you home after the retrieval as well.
Once the entire process is finished, your body will naturally go back to its original state of producing one egg a month. What’s changed is that you have graciously helped a couple(s) start the process to having the family of their dreams. Call 877-DONATE-EGGS to learn more about the application and egg donation process or to apply to become a donor.
