Would love to hear your Donor egg ivf stories

[wouldleavehomeforIdrisElba]

I'm booked for DEIVF in April and nervously excited. we are travelling to Czech Republic. I'm in my 40's!
Would love to hear your success stories...good or bad

[amyisagonegirl]

I can tell u a success story. I've three fantastic children from donor egg ivf. My girl is 3 this April and my twin boys were born in October. It was by no means an easy road, we had 7 cycles all together. 2 in Ireland and 5 in Zlin in the Czech republic. We had 1 failed cycle, 4 miscarriages and 2 pregnancies. I was really happy with our decision to go Czech as it was so much cheaper for an excellent quality of tx and that meant when I didn't work we could afford to go back. It can be a difficult time but if you are half as lucky as me, so worth it.
Good luck

[wouldleavehomeforIdrisElba]

Thank you so much for this positive story. I really hope I'm as lucky as you. we probably can only give this the one shot so fingers crossed. :).

[resipsa]

And another from me. I'm 16 weeks tomorrow after a successful DE cycle in Nov 14. We had 1 failed own egg cycle (negative test) in 2013 and 2 failed DE cycles (two positive tests then both pregnancies lost at 6 weeks) in 2014. We decided that was it until my husband was diagnosed with cancer just after the second loss of 2014. We decided to freeze his sperm before chemo began and give it one more try. And here we are .

As the PP said, not an easy ride and no guarantee BUT all 3 of my DE cycles resulted in a pregnancy and you can't ask for more than that as the rest is pure luck.

Wishing you all the best.

[resipsa]

PS I'm 44. With DEs, age really is just a number!

[wouldleavehomeforIdrisElba]

massive congratulations *resipsa ....just what I need to hear. I have just turned 45 and always said that my 45 th birthday was my cut off. This tcc is tough. If I'm honest I never thought I would get as far as DE but the goal posts sure move with time. We have decided to freeze any embryo's we may get but pennies are not unlimited so we have to draw the line somewhere. Thank you

[cingolimama]

I always said that 45 was my cut-off point too. In fact, my daughter was born a month before I turned 45, so technically ...

OP, like you it was a terribly long road. I had trouble getting pregnant and staying pregnant. Had been on the fertility treadmill for a decade. This was my last shot and I chose to do it with a donor, as it was pretty clear my eggs were scrambled. I didn't have a huge amount of hope, but I did think that I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't give it everything I had. I didn't want to look back in my 50's and say to myself "if only I'd tried this...". We did our DE in the U.S. Once I got through the first anxious trimester (where I'd always MC'd in the past), mine was a strong, trouble-free and very happy pregnancy.

It totally worked out - we have a smart, beautiful, kind and funny daughter who we are besotted with. I wish you all the luck in the world, OP.

[BugBugBug]

I'm sat next to my DS (3y) born via donor egg IVF. He is gorgeous, I couldn't love him anymore if I tried.

Best of luck

[wouldleavehomeforIdrisElba]

great to hear *bug. where did you all go for your treatment. Did you find it all fell into place easily? I am just in process of booking flights hotels etc and sorting meds.

[wouldleavehomeforIdrisElba]

Cingolimama.....your story sounds familiar. We had decided after dailed IUI in November and the clinic twlling us there was nothing more they could do, that it was end of road for us but we felt the same......I would have hates to have lookes back in a few years time and wished we had tried the DEIVF. Even though I know the odda aren't that hopeful, they are certainly better than nothing. I had a mmc 2 years ago and since then not even a sniff of a BFP so its been a soul deatroying couple of years. I so hope I can be like you lovely ladies and reply with positive news to other hopefuls in a couple of years time x

[wouldleavehomeforIdrisElba]

oh dear....terrible typos using phone, I hope that last message makes sense.

[BugBugBug]

We did two PGD IVFs with my eggs in London (nhs funded at guys). My eggs couldn't cope with it at all.

We decided to have one last go, threw all our money into egg donation in Barcelona (Institut Marques, recommended by a friend). They were fab. Our first cycle there and we got DS and still have another 3 embryos in the freezer.

[wouldleavehomeforIdrisElba]

thats fantastic Bug.....so do you have any plans for the embryo transfers in the near future?

[BugBugBug]

We're not sure to be honest. DS' birth was traumatic and it has left me a bit scarred (physically and emotionally).

We'll see. We can donate them if we decide against it.

Probably we'll try again but some days, I just can't face it... I've been dodging making an actual decision for 3 years now .

[Chococlare]

Hi, I'm 33 no children, premature ovarian failure. I'm on the waiting list for donor eggs at the moment. 28th on the list. We didn't qualify for NHS so been saving like mad the past couple years. We were told the options today would be to choose from frozen (1-3, 4-6 or 7+ eggs from the batch or fresh eggs (full batch or shared) prices ranging from £4600 - £8100. So many choices and very nerve racking as desperately want it to work, the whole emotional and physical process is all consuming. I'm still really scared of the no genetic link factor

[wouldleavehomeforIdrisElba]

*Choco I had to think long and hard about the non genetic link factor too. Now that my options are exhausted as far as my own eggs are concerned its amazing how accepting of it I am. I am sure I have read that during pregnancy there is some transmission of DNA from the mother to fetus. ....something I must look more into.
We have opted to use frozen eggs as timing is a bit of an issue. I have heard that success rates are a little lower but at Reprofit you are still promised at least 8 good quality eggs. I wounder has anybody else sone a frozen egg donation rather than fresh?

[wouldleavehomeforIdrisElba]

*Bug I understand your dilemma. I have older children (now adults eek). The birrh of my eldest was horrendous. I had councilling and a meeting to discuss what had happened in a meeting with the midwife when my dd was 6 months old as the experience haunted me. I spent the whole of my 2 nd pregnancy dreading the birth. ...but it couldnt have been more different. However I can also see your viewpoint and having your little one is marvellous

[mrscee]

I've got 4 year old twins from DE IVF we had treatment at Crea in valencia. I had a fresh cycle which didn't work and then a frozen cycle which was successful. I have premature ovarian failure so I was 34 when they were born. Good luck.

[wouldleavehomeforIdrisElba]

Thank you MrsCree. So young to have to go through premature ovarian failure....but a lovely outcome :)

[resipsa]

I posted earlier. I have a 4 year old daughter who was conceived without assistance (I prefer to use those words than 'naturally' these days). Although you do need to think carefully about the 'donor' part, I can say from my experience that feeling like a child's 'mummy' comes from carrying, giving birth and caring for a helpless baby so I wouldn't be deterred from using DEs if it's the logical thing to do.

[MuddyWellyNelly]

I am 17 weeks pregnant, from Donor egg. We did 3 own egg cycles, but very low AMH meant I got very few eggs (3,1,1), and never got pregnant. In the end we went to Serum in Athens who are fantastic. Our donor had 9 eggs collected, 6 fertilised, and 4 went to blast. We had 2 blasts put back, one took, and hopefully in 23 weeks or less, it will be our first baby . 2 more frosties in the freezer that I hope one day can become one or two siblings. They don't overstimulate the donors, which was important to me, and I believe it shows in egg quality.

It's early days of course, but I very rarely think about the donor part, I just worry that everything is going well and can't wait to meet our child. I've done my grieving for my genetic link. Now I couldn't care less.

The phrase you are looking for re the pregnancy/DNA is epigenetics. It's a new and little understood science as yet, but the theory is that the mother (ie you!) dictates which markers are turned on or off. Sorry I realise that's not scientific at all, just my layman's understanding.

FWIW our full round was €5,000 but we had to pay another €1k for the embryos that we froze - think it's €200/year after that.

[wouldleavehomeforIdrisElba]

congratulations *muddy. you must be thrilled...although I can also imagine the anxiety that goes hand in hand with any pregnancy that has been sooo wanted.
I will be googling Reprogenics this evening.

[wouldleavehomeforIdrisElba]

That should have read epigenetic s......

[purplemeggie]

Love this thread - we're gearing up for a DE transfer in about 3 weeks' time, in CZ. Reading about people's successes is just what I need, so thank you for starting the thread OP .
I'm 42, have a 7 yo DS (like Resipsa's, ds was conceived "without assistance") - our fertility problems stemmed from my c-section, but we didn't find that out for five years, 1 mc and several chemical pregnancies. Personally, I think I would have drawn the line a couple of years ago ,but DH isn't ready to close the door, and our beautiful DS asks for a baby on a regular basis. We did 2 x fresh cycles and a FET last year with my own eggs, with no success. We chose to go to CZ because the waiting lists here were so long, but we're really pleased with the decision - they seem more technologically advanced than our clinic in the UK and the cost of a DE cycle, including travel, will be less than OE IVF here.
So far as genetic link is concerned, I'm pragmatic about wanting to do whatever is most likely to result in a wriggly healthy bundle in my arms, but our consultant in the UK had some helpful things to say when we first discussed DE. He said that they believe that the make-up of the resulting child is influenced 40% by the sperm, 40% by the egg and 20% by the uterine environment. The donor is only giving you one cell and your body is enabling that one cell to develop into a whole person, and contributing all the things it needs to do so. In addition, he pointed out that the baby will learn to smile etc., by copying your facial expressions, so he said that even DE babies end up looking more like their mothers than you'd expect.
I have a friend whose child was conceived with DE and I only found out when I told her that was what we were planning to do. Her child has so many mannerisms of hers.
And have a google of epigenetics too...xxx

[cingolimama]

Purple those "influencing" figures are so interesting. I'd always felt that the maternal womb should have an influence, but didn't know that any evidence backed that feeling up. Thank you.

[wouldleavehomeforIdrisElba]

*purple ....massive good luck for your ET in a couple of weeks. I spent last night going google mad on epigenetic s. Wow!!! A completely fascinating subject, more so with it being so relevant just now. In one article it claimed a child conceived from a donated egg would be genetically 40% sperm, 40% donor and 20% uterine carrier. I dont have a problem at all with receiving a donated egg....but I must say reading up on this subject has made me feel really good.