Anyone starting egg donation July/August?

[Leala20]

We maybe starting our egg donation treatment (first time) July/August and I thought maybe there’s anyone here that would like to join me. Ive found this forum very useful and supportive and thought I would reach out as I cannot believe it is so soon and getting a bit nervous. We had a year of rollercoaster of trying for many years to being finally told my amh is too low and I wouldn’t qualify for IVF. We did our research and found DCN very useful and are really excited about it.

How are you all? Anyone starting a cycle soon?

Starting my buserelin injections tonight @Cleozeta!

@Cleozeta Congrats on hitting another milestone successfully.

I am waiting for my AF to come (hoping in 2-2.5 weeks time) so I can start preparing for the transfer. We are using frozen eggs.

I am waiting for my cycle to start soon and then here we go again!

Fingers crossed for you all!

@Cleozeta congratulations on bfp.. another milestone.
@Leala20 @ksusha20 @Sunbird24 great that you are starting or about your cycle. Onwards and hoping.

As for me work helped me switch off a bit. They want me to do another scan for upcoming Friday. Booked in at my local EPU. You cant even take your partner in. Tbh I have started distancing myself already for the news next Friday...

I have 7 embryos in the freezer but tempted to PGS test them. What are your opinions on this? I am not sure i can face going through this experience again. @Russkispy you mentioned that you tested your embryos.. did they discuss the pros and cons? My partner has MFI and thinking this might have an impact?

@tikha thank you, will keep everything crossed for you for Friday.

@tikha I asked my consultant about this as I only have 3 embryos left and one being the weakest. She told me she wouldn’t advise in my case as I had only one failed cycle and with 3 left there’s a higher risks some may get damaged. At the same time if I had more I would. I know in Spain they would test them straightaway. It seems here the approach is that it’s only properly investigated when there’s more than average failures and in other countries this would be investigated already. I think we will just see what happens this time and then have 2 implanted if they all survive and if not successful we are considering going abroad. I hope you’re keeping strong and I know it must be hard but do not lose hope. Sometimes unexpected happens. How are you feeling?
@ksusha20 it’s flown by. I remember you talk about donors a while back and now you’re there ready to go!

@Sunbird24 are you also doing a cycle this month?

Starting my first one! Day 2 of down regulating before the first scan on 23 Sep. Fridge and cupboard both full of drugs and needles...

@tikha really sorry that you are going through this heartbreak again.
We also have male infertility factor. My husband has low sperm count, but other parameters (motility and morphology) are all good. We were also considering PGT embryos but were advised against because of the young age of the donor (quality of eggs is expected to be very good). So we decided not to do it to avoid unnecessary costs. He never mentioned that poor semen quality can cause aneuploidy (this is what i believe PGT is testing for). Would be interesting to hear what your clinic view is on that.

@Leala20 yes, time flies. You will be starting cycle soon as well?
@Sunbird24 We might go hand in hand. I am expecting my AF around Sep 20. So we might start lining preparation for the transfer more or less at the same time.

@tikha when I had IVF with my OE last year, I had 2 embryos. my doc suggested to PGS them and it turned out one of them had a trisomy 13. It wasn't transferred. And the other one wasn't tested and transferred but it ended in a MC. Doc believed it was something to do with chromosomal abnormality.

With DE, we ended up having 12 top grade embryos. And doc suggested PGS 2 out of the batch, just in case. She didn't want anything go wrong. They both came back as healthy and normal. My donor was 29 at that time.

1st transfer was BFP but ended in CP 4 days later. Then I did lots of blood tests etc

For next round and successful, we transferred another PGS tested embryo. And I'm now 31 weeks pregnant.

I read a lot about PGS testing, pros and cons. But in the end I was following my doc's advice

Hello
Please can you help?
How do you go about choosing a donor? How do you know you've chosen the right one if all you have is basic information? And no idea if they look like you? I am using London Egg Bank.
Thanks in advance.

I've done something really stupid. I tested this morning with a tesco own brand, I don't even know why I did it, but it came out faint. Much lighter than the positive test I got earlier in the week (no idea what brand test it was from the clinic but it was a strong line)
Now I'm just waiting for things to go wrong. Why did I even test again?!

@Cleozeta i wouldn't worry too much about that. Tesco cheapies not so good at getting strong lines. You will have to wait for a bit. You definitely can't compare dofferent brands. If you have to test you should use frer and try to do it at similar times i.e first thing in the morning and every 48 hours or so. But the easiest thing is actually to do quantitative measurements. These early days are so fraught with tensions. The easiest thing is so to enjoy being pregnant and just wait for the 7 week scan?

Thanks @tikha you are right. I totally had every intention of just waiting until the 7 week scan, then I woke up this morning and remembered I had some unused tests, and just did one without thinking about it and now I have thrown myself into a frenzy, I regret it so much! I wish I had just left it alone.
Advice for those who get positive tests - LEAVE IT THERE!!!
I'm such a muppet.

I hope you’ve chucked all the rest in the bin @Cleozeta!

@Cleozeta it’s such early days and tests vary in their sensitivity. As Tikha says enjoy being pregnant. Stress also doesn’t help do best to ditch and forget.

Thanks, I'm going to ditch! Stupid tests.

Please can someone help with my query or is it best to start a new thread?

Sorry @twinklestar2, I’m having a go with my own eggs first but I’m sure someone will have experience to share with you. Interested in any replies too, in case I have to go down that route

@twinklestar2 you choose the donors you think you are compatible with on traits that you think are most important and ask the coordinator of they look like you. They will ask for your photo and let you know. Alternatively you can ask the coordinator to suggest donors who look like you. You would let them know what is most important to you

@twinklestar2 sorry, I was in a panicky flap yesterday!!

We chose ours based on just simple basic characteristics, so hair & eye colour, height, etc. There is no way to get someone who looks completely like you, really you need to just go for closest match for basics, so they don't look wildly different. To be honest, in true reality, they may end up looking like the Dad, so who knows. You also get to know a basic personality trait too, so we said we'd like a donor who was gentle and kind, so our chosen donor is a nurse. She had written a note stating her general character traits and career. You could also request educated, or sporty etc. Just expect to have to prioritise most important traits when matches come through. And some traits the child may not even carry when they are here.

Good luck.

@Cleozeta you are being so calm! I would be the same as you testing all the time. I was the same every 2ww just to get BFN's- just hoping we get a donor soon as this wait is going to drive me up the wall. How are we all supposed to keep sane? X