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.

@greendress789 we can only try and hope for the best

@greendress789
Good luck - sorry to hear you have raised killer cells but at least it’s given you some more answers.

re hot footing it across Harley street. I did the same for my blood test straight after my transfer as got the wrong location and all I wanted was a sit down and a cup of tea! Didn’t realise LWC use a range of blood testing clinics!

Thanks both!

It's so expensive. I've spent another £4-5k I'd say on this 😳

How is everyone else getting on?

Hi, I know this is an old thread but I found it so interesting to read having been told earlier this week that our only option for a child is to have donor eggs given my age (mid 40s), low AMH (2.7) and relatively high FSH of 14.5. I was wondering how those in this thread, or anyone else who has gone down the DE route is getting on? I'm just trying to come to terms with leaving things too late (guilt, feeling useless etc) along with trying to understand whether I can deal with the whole DE process. Any advice including clinics used would be hugely welcomed. Thank you! x

Hi Tigwa, every woman's journey is unique. And whether we have kids at 19 , after 40 or don't have at all either by choice or because of the nature , it does not make us less of a woman. I too started late (after 40) and only because then my boyfriend/now my husband sort of strongly suggested that we better start trying for a baby the sooner the better. After 4 rounds of IVF we finally got pregnant. But tragically we lost our baby daughter at 29th week of gestation. I was 43at that time.
Less than a year after we decided to try again. We were also advised that DE is our best chance of bringing a healthy baby home ( i was almost 44 years old then). However I still wanted to try one more round with my OE (I felt like I was not ready to let go off my potential genetic baby). But the cycle had to be restarted/cancelled due to initial poor response to down regulation. I took it as a sign and also asked myself : Do I want to be a mom or do I want to be a mom to a baby with my DNA. I also knew I did not want to go through a heartbreak of stillbirth or miscarriage again.
Fast forward two years, we have a lovely 13 months old baby boy via DE, who we love more than anything. There was not even a second that I would have thought that my boy does not carry my DNA. I care less about that. My heart is full of love towards my son and enormous gratitude to our donor.
I did had so many doubts and inner struggles before we proceeded to DE. All of them seem so unimportant now. We started with a long list of requirements (physical and character) for the donor. But ended up agreeing to the only donor our clinic had at that time (Covid was not helpful for recruiting donors at that time). The only common physical features were color of the skin and hair.
We were using IVI London. Yes, thanks to them we have our son at first try but to be honest with you I was not very happy with them at that time (admin side of the clinic). They are very big in Spain but relatively young in UK. Hence almost non existent donor database. I don't know maybe they have expanded their database of donors since then. We would not have picked them if had known from the start that we would go DE route. I guess it was the fate.
My advice will be if I may : take care of yourself first. when you in harmony with yourself it helps you to see what is better for you and not what believes society impose on you. select a donor who already has her own healthy children/child if you decide to go this route.
Let me know if you have any questions or need to know more.
Wish you lots of luck.

@ksusha20 Thank you so much for replying, I truly appreciate it. Wow that's some journey you've been on. I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your baby daughter xx
I'm so pleased things worked out for you, and you have your son :-)
I'm just struggling with everything in my head. It's so hard to deal with the fact that any child we may have with DE would be linked to my hubby but not me. I keep going over and over in my head, why didn't we start sooner but I kept thinking we've got this and that coming up and may be next year. But we can't change the past and I know everything happens for a reason, and it's unlikely I may never know the reason why. We've been offered counselling by the ACU at Guys hospital but that's not until the start of Sept so I while yet.

At least the DE route is still an option to look into. I have so many Qs and really appreciate your offer. Did you think about going abroad? I see so many people on here and other sites going abroad but I wouldn't have a clue where to start looking. Like you I know I'd have a long list of requirements but I think abroad they don't allow you to have so many? I also keep thinking about when they get older and whether they would struggle with a sense of identity and how I'd deal with that. So going for a clinic in the UK would allow them to trace the donor at least, I think that's the case? Are you able to trace the donor earlier and get in contact if you wanted to?

Also, I'm not sure how some of my friends and family would take it that we used DE. Being completely honest I think my OH's family may think it's very weird and definitely some of my friends would. Who did you tell and what did they say?

I'm so sorry for all the Qs, thanks again for your help and support. xx

Hi @Tigwa
I hope you are well. An update on my situation….I had a little girl through DE earlier this year. We had a number of transfers before moving to DE, however my first DE transfer failed and I then had immune testing and various other tests at LWC implantation clinic and was put on a different medicine schedule. I think the latter was as important as using DE.

Even while I was pregnant I still sometimes wondered if I’d slightly miss having that biological connection when she was born. I can honestly say I don’t feel any differently than if she was my own DNA and couldn’t love her any more.

We have told our family and our closest friends we’ve used donor eggs. I don’t tell everyone including some good friends as feel it’s DD’s story to share when she’s ready. We had a known donor and I think of her every day and hope to meet her and thank her one day. Good luck with whatever you decide.

I don't think I've posted on this thread before but just wanted to say I had my DD earlier this year, we used donor eggs via the London Egg Bank, and I absolutely adore my baby. We may not be genetically related but she is the absolute light of my life and such a wonderful baby.

I was very lucky as I already have an older DD who we conceived naturally after years of trying but when we tried for a second I had many miscarriages and we discovered I had endometriosis which was likely affecting egg quality. I can honestly say I love and adore both my DDs equally and I feel so grateful to have them.

Hey hope everyone is well? I’ve just had my 3rd failed round with OE. First nothing to transfer. 2nd one embryo ended in MMC and 3rd one embryo but didn’t implant. I have one round left but I am thinking of options if that is not successful, I am 39 and can’t keep going through these cycles with my life on hold and the anxiety it causes. I’m interested in exploring use of donor eggs and am drawn to Manchester fertility (DH had SSR there) if anyone had used them can you tell me a little bit about the process you went / are going through and how long the wait time is please ? If there’s a wait list I am wondering if I should go ahead and register now? Thanks xx