Egg donation - second time around

[EmmaBemma]

I'm now at the beginning of my second round of egg donation - and my last, as I turned 35 this year. An egg donation cycle is essentially an IVF cycle that stops with egg retrieval.

I'm starting this thread because I haven't seen much on mumsnet about egg donation, so I thought my experiences might be of interest to anyone considering it, or anyone just wanting to know what's involved. And also because it's good to have somewhere to offload. If anyone else wants to chip in, so much the better!

I was so bummed out by the tiny haul of eggs from my cycle at the end of last year

(full story here, if anyone is interested, but to cut a long story short, one of my ovaries remained stubbornly unstimulated www.mumsnet.com/Talk/infertility/1609370-IVF-cycle-egg-donor-can-I-ask-you-about-my-symptoms)

that I decided to give it another shot. I live about 15 minutes drive from the assisted conception unit and I'm a SAHM, so it's not much trouble to make the appointments, and like last time I won't need to apply for expenses.

Today is Day 3 of downregulation with Busrelin, have set my mobile phone alarm to go off 4 x daily. Funny how immediately familiar the bitter aftertaste of the spray was!

Hello anyone reading - just a quick update. Had my baseline scan last week and found out that my uterine lining was still too thick at 8 mm to start the stimming bit of the cycle. Could be any number of things - I'm very active so my periods aren't as heavy as they might be; I'd also had a cold and very runny sneezy nose which prob affected absorption of the spray. The nurse gave me Suprecur injections instead of the spray, which I've been doing every morning, and a 5 day course of progesterone to help strip the excess lining away. Started bleeding heavily on Wednesday and going for another scan tomorrow, when hopefully I can start the next bit, after over 4 weeks of downregging.

Also found out that despite my gloomy predictions, my last donation was in fact successful, and the recipient had a little baby boy. Absolutely delighted.

Wow what an amazing thing you've done!!

I'm curious, will this boy be able to trace you in the future or is egg donation anonymous?

Thank you Fox82! It meant a lot, to hear the news after having been so sure it wouldn't happen. Absolutely magic.

HeyJudith - I am an anonymous donor, so all I ever get to find out is the gender of any children and the year they were born. All the parents get told about me is my height, hair and eye colour, and blood group. In America they can be a bit more choosy, as donations are paid. But he will be able to contact me when he turns 18, should he ever want to - all children from donor egg/sperm have had that right since a law was passed in the last few years. Donors are also encouraged to write a sort of personal statement, and a short message for any future children, to go in their HFEA notes (the Human Fertiliisation and Embryology Authority, they handle all the paperwork and stuff). So I did that.

I think it's impossible to be dispassionate about donating some of your own DNA, so I have found it quite an emotional experience at times, but hugely worthwhile.

Thanks Emma

I am pleased he would have facility to contact you when he's 18, if he wanted to.

I do think what you do is amazing, giving the gift of life, but it's reassuring that children are able to trace their roots. I knew sperm donors had to be available for possible contact but I didn't know if it applied to egg donors or not.

Emma how fab to hear what you're doing so selflessly for another couple; you will never know quite how much that gift will mean! My ovaries packed up in my early thirties, diagnosed just at the point we decided we wanted to start a family. We're about to embark on the DEIVF route and thanks to the generosity of a lady we'll never meet, and to medical science, we may yet end up with a child. Incredible when you think of it. You're doing an amazing thing. Thank you.

oh, thank you cherrycoconut. I don't think of it as selfless, as it's a very rewarding thing to be able to do at no real personal cost. I think more women would become donors if they knew what was involved - that's the main reason I'm writing about it really, to share my own experience and demystify the process for anyone interested but maybe a bit daunted. I really hope that DEIVF works out for you.

HeyJudith I so agree - I think it's really important that children from donor eggs can know more about their genetic background if they want to. Of course some parents choose not to tell their children that they were conceived from a donor egg or sperm, which is a whole other minefield!

Had my second baseline scan today, which showed that the lining is 4.3 mm so we're all set! Starting Gonal-F on Monday. 225 IU is my dose, which I think is 75 more than last cycle, when one ovary didn't respond. Keeping up the Suprecur injections too; feel a bit like a pin cushion but I'm getting very efficient with them and they don't hurt. Scan next Monday.

Thanks for your good wishes Emma. If we're lucky enough to have a child by DEIVF we'll definitely tell them about their beginnings. We suppose it will just become an integral part of who they are. Of course we'd support them to find out more about their donor if that's what they wanted too.

I hope the rest of your stimming is plain sailing. I still say you're amazing for putting yourself out this way.

update! Had my first monitoring scan this morning. Better than last cycle: my right ovary has decided to join in! hurray! So the larger Gonal-F dose has worked to an extent.

Not an amazing haul so far, that said - 5 follicles on the left, 3 on the right (this is Day 8 of stimming) with about 3 less than 10 mm on the right and a couple on the left I think. I can't remember exactly what the sizes were, even though I was doing the writing as I was being scanned! (they were a staff member short today) I think they ranged from 12-15 mm.

Another monitoring scan on Wednesday morning and then egg collection will be either Friday or Monday, depending on how things go. I was hoping there might be a few more follicles this time, but the good news from last time has really brought home the message about it being quality, not quantity, that's important. So I'm feeling pretty positive. I wonder if they'll tell my recipient that my previous donation was successful, so she'll feel hopeful too.

Symptom wise, starting to be a bit bloated now and had a good old half hour cry about nothing yesterday morning. Other than that, feel absolutely fine.

It's on for Friday! Had second scan this morning. The count is at 10 now, which I'm really pleased about. The biggest has got to 21 mm and the others are mostly over 15 I think.

I have my Ovitrelle injection chilling in the fridge, and will be doing it at 9.30 pm this eve.

Delurking to say thanks for posting this thread, and especially so for keeping it updated. The more I think/learn about it, the more I'm sure I want to donate eggs. Will be eagerly watching out for further updates.

Great that you're considering donation, Frettchen! There's a huge shortage of donors in the UK. I'm really glad this thread has been helpful to you.

You've probably found it already but when I was first thinking about egg donation, this site www.ngdt.co.uk/become-an-egg-donor was a good resource. It's got loads of info on it and a list of all the UK assisted conception clinics - if you do decide to go for it, you would contact your local clinic directly.

I'll update again on Friday evening :)

Hi EmmaBemma,
Good for you for donating - esp altrusitically! I did it about 5 years ago - but for my sister - and it was one of the best things I've ever done! It was successful and resulted in my very adorable niece.
At the time I also couldn't find much on line from the donor perspective, so wrote a thread on fertility friends under the name of c l u c k c l u c k (no gaps, obviously!) which told the whole story. Not very useful for you, perhaps, as you're doing it for the second time round, but maybe for others who see this.
Hope it all goes well, and best of luck with it!
madcows
ps - I only got 3 eggs (I was 38!), but that was enough!

madcows - wow! I will have a look for your thread. What a wonderful thing to have done for your sister. I have thought about what it would be like to donate to someone I know; there's different considerations and in some ways I think it could be a more complex decision than donating to a stranger. Did you find it so? Do you feel differently about your niece than if she hadn't been conceived from one of your eggs?

Being anonymous means I'll never get to meet my recipient's little boy unless he contacts me when he's older, and I'm fine with that, but I'm sure I'll wonder from time to time about what he's like and how he's getting on.

Egg retrieval was this morning. They got 9! I'm pretty pleased with that.

I was sedated for the retrieval itself (unlike last time where I chose no sedation and self-administered pain relief, which I'd found not too effective). I didn't like the idea of heavy sedation so they kept it as light as possible. Even so, I was pretty spaced out and I don't remember very much. At one time I said "Bethan, stop it please" (Bethan's my eldest daughter's name) as one of the nurses was clattering about with some equipment! It was uncomfortable rather than painful and I felt pretty alert quite soon afterwards. Very much enjoyed my tea and toast after having fasted since last night.

Chilling out on the sofa now - my husband has kindly taken the day off work for me so I get to do absolutely jeff all for the rest of the day. Win!