Donor conception Spain

[Kitty2024]

Hi all!

After 4 failed IVF/ICSI cycles in the UK that all resulted in morula's or very early stage blastocysts, we are now considering donor conception using donor eggs. We are currently at a clinic in Manchester so we need to decide whether to stay at our current clinic or whether to go to Europe for this next chapter, or even change clinics here in the UK.

We are considering a clinic called Clinica Fertia in Fuengirola in Spain, we already know the area pretty well and it seems to have good reviews and is £3000 cheaper per donor round compared to our current clinic here.

Does anyone have experience of treatment in Spain with donor eggs? Or even without donor eggs?

What's the law in Spain around donors being traced? How possible will it be for a child to track down their biological roots?

Hi @Kitty2024 I am British but live in Spain. I am currently going to through IVF treatment, (egg retrieval tomorrow) and we are using donor sperm but with my own eggs. The ICSI is about 4000€ the donor sperm is €330 and we’ve done a genetic testing to make sure that I don’t have the same recessive genes as the donor and that was €600. The price doesn’t include the stimulation medication, they give you a prescription and you buy it from the pharmacy and that has cost just under €800.
The law here in Spain is that donors are completely anonymous. The national donor bank in Spain do a computer photo match and try to make the donor look the most similar to the person they are ‘replacing’ so in our case the donor will look most like my husband. They try to match blood types too or have a common blood type. The donors also go through rigorous testing. You never see or know who the donor is, nor can your child ask for the information in the future.
Also something that took me but surprise, and I don’t know if it’s the same in the UK, but when they fertilize the eggs and then freeze the embryos, say you get pregnant on the first try 🤞🏻, and you don’t want any more children. You cannot destroy the leftover embryos. You can either keep paying the storage every year until you hit menopause and then ask a judge for permission to destroy them, or you can donate them to someone else (also anonymously).

I used a clinic in Manchester (donated sperm rather than eggs), but a friend had IVF with donor eggs at a clinic in Barcelona and was very happy with the process. I think the most stressful part was timing the travelling.

I am currently undergoing DE treatment in Alicante, Spain. So far my experience is good (even though I am yet to see success). They are very professional, speak good English, respond quickly, nice clean facilities etc.

They are indeed a lot cheaper than the UK not just for DE treatment itself but also for other tests you may need. We saved a lot of money by doing our hysteroscopy there even after accounting for flight and accommodation costs.

I don't find the traveling difficult but generally I like to travel and there are direct flights to Alicante from multiple airports nearby. Please do check how easy it will be to travel to and from where you live as there is no guarantee that you will be successful on the first try even with a DE and may need several trips for subsequent FETs etc. You also need to be able to travel on relatively short notice.

The only issue is their donations are anonymous. I will urge you to do research on this issue and weigh the pros and cons of doing it over there vs here in the UK.

https://www.dcnetwork.org/ is a good resource if you embark on the DE route. We also found the Fertility Show in London useful last year. Here's the link for this year's show https://www.fertilityshow.co.uk/london Good luck 🍀

@Kaybee1989 thank you for your message!

I have been researching the different laws and speaking to my fertility clinic over here to find out more. I've asked to have a consultation with a couple of clinics in Europe as well as a counselling session that we have booked at our clinic here.

That's very interesting to know about the frozen embryos, do you know if they could be donated to medical science or would they have to be donated for sometime to use? I will definitely speak to the clinics about this!

@Serendipity24 thanks for your message!

I've been looking in to the different laws so it's definitely something we will be taking in to consideration.

One of the clinics in Spain explained that I would need to be there for 7 days to have the transfer using an embryo with a donor egg. I guess we would know when abouts the week would be but I guess we would need to book a flight with only a few days notice depending on the day of egg collection. Which makes me wonder if we could do that in the high season in Spain!?

I'm with a clinic in Barcelona for DE. We flew out in Jan to meet a couple clinics and settled for the one in Barcelona. We were given the option to provide sperm but chose to provide fresh only. I had to go on the pill to sync my cycle with the donor. I was advised 2 days before EC for husband to provide sample. Flights are relatively cheap to BCN even if booked late. He flew there and back in 24 hrs.
The same day we were advised of the number of eggs fertilised and based on this, were given the instructions for day transfer.
You can fly back on the same day, but we chose to fly back a day later.

Whilst all clinics will state they have x number of donors, they're not always readily available to go ahead and start the process of donating. It took 6 weeks to start the process. It's completely anonymous and we were told of her hair colour, hair pattern, eye colour, skin colour and ethnicity on tranfer day only. This clinic doesn't do computerised matching, they meet with the donor themselves, do a personality test, and match you physicslly. Gentic testing, blood group matching etc is all done part of the initial screening we had done in January. You can use tests from the UK or anywhere else in the world as long as its within 6 months. The clinic do ask if there are some specifics you'd want your donor to have, whilst they can't promise or confirm they do try.

Unfortunately my first DE transfer was not successful, however, the experience and care with the clinic is outstanding. You really are made to feel it's all about you.

It's a long answer but wanted to give as much detail as possible. Happy to answer any questions

@Kitty2024 You have raised a good point about travelling to Spain in high season. We have been having treatment in Spain since November last year, so haven't faced the busy summer period yet. Our next FET would be in late June, so I am a bit worried now! For FET I would get 7 days notice, so might be possible I hope. I think the most uncertainty is when you go before the donor egg collection as it is entirely dependent on how the donor is responding to the stimulation; we had only two days notice.

@Serendipity24 aww sorry I have got you worried! I work with schools so ideally would want to go over the summer holiday and other school holidays if we needed to go again...so the busiest times! This is a good point I should raise with the clinic. Do you mind me asking which clinic you are with?

@Kitty2024 no worries, it's good you've pointed this out so I can prepare better. I am with Instituto Bernabeu, Alicante.

@Rosequartzz thank you so much for your answer. I've used 3 different clinics here over the years so feel like I have a good understanding of processes and time lines here but IVF in Spain is a totally new concept for us so it feels like a real minefield!

I am sorry your first DE wasn't successful, I've had 4 failed transfers and the last one was only a couple of weeks ago so I really sympathise. Do you mind me asking which clinic you are with?

My clinic here has a waiting time of up to 6 months to find a fresh donor and less for their frozen donor eggs. Apparently there is a new process here where fresh donor eggs have to be frozen on day of egg collection then tested 3 months later to check for infections before they can be considered for ivf. So it's a long process if we wanted fresh eggs. I'm still really unsure whether fresh or frozen makes a difference, how did you make that decision? Does your clinic also have frozen or do they only do fresh donor cycles?

I worry about the last minute flights over summer which is ideally when we would like to start but we're also considering having a summer off and starting again in September. The last 2 summers have been consumed by surgeries and ivf so I'm ready to just enjoy life for a bit before we get on that train again!

@Kitty2024 we're with Institut Marquès. We went out in Jan to visit instituto Bernabeu and this clinic and really liked IM. We chose to use fresh eggs. I'm not sure if there were frozen ones available but we wanted fresh eggs and fresh sperm.
So far flights haven't been an issue. We're flying out this week for the hysteroscopy and flights are 40 return pp. The hotel was a little more expensive. I suppose because bank holiday may increase tourist? I'm not sure.

We do sometimes see flash sales from Ryanair which makes travelling very cheap with just a backpack.

Once we know about the next frozen cycle I can let you know timings.

I'm really sorry to hear about your 4 failed transfer. It's commendable to keep strong and keep going
You will get there. May I ask if this was the result of own eggs ?

@Serendipity24 I have been talking to others and your clinic came up! A friend of my colleague conceived their 2 children there and has good things to say about them so I'm currently looking in to them. We have a family apartment in Malaga so I have been looking at clinics there as it means we won't have to pay for accommodation and we already know the area but now I'm wondering if we shouldn't pigeon hole ourselves in to this area. Does it seem like you can book accommodation at a fairly short notice in Alicante? Where are you at with your 'journey'? x

@Kitty2024 I think you have a tough call to make. Having guaranteed accommodation and saving money is certainly helpful, it's one less thing to worry about. But you also have to choose a clinic based on what works best for you, not just what is convenient. I would say have consultation with both, and see how you feel.

I haven't had any problem with booking accommodation yet, even when we had to travel on two days notice for DE collection. But things might be different in summer. I still think you will definitely find something, may just need to compromise on location, price etc.

Last minutes flights are more unpredictable imo, the ones available are usually very expensive, or you may need to take indirect routes in high season. I always found the Alicante flights to be almost full. Having said that I also managed to book a direct flight 4 hours before departure when I went for a procedure because it was organised very last minute (at my insistence, the clinic didn't think it was necessary to have one). And I booked the hotel from the airport. It was a mad day 😀

We are going for our second FET in June.

@Rosequartzz thank you for sharing all that information. Our cycles were with our own eggs. We have a virtual consultation this Friday and I've reached out to 3 other clinics to ask to arrange consultations so the ball is rolling 🤞🏼

@Serendipity24 it does feel like a tough call to make! I prefer the idea of knowing we don't have to think about accommodation if we need to go over multiple times, to save money and also the stress of booking somewhere. But I don't want to choose a clinic purely for this reason. I'm setting up consultations with 3 clinics in Malaga and with yours in Alicante and will see how we feel after the consultations. I'm trying to find out how much the baby guarantee programme is at your clinic as the price isn't online so I've asked in an email.

All the best for your FET next month! xx

@Kitty2024 Thanks. The egg donor guarantee package was €17950 when I inquired in September. They will send you a detailed brochure which clearly states what's included in the package and what's not. Transparent pricing is one aspect I really liked about IB.

@Kitty2024 hiya, I have had 4 failed ivfs and my story is similar to you, we only ever get to early blast. My AMH is low and we have had 4 mc so now my next step is donor eggs.

we had our eye on IB Alicante, did you decide on a place at all?

Hi @Serendipity24 how did your Transfer go? 🤞🏼 I am about to start IB using DE so resonated to your story

Hi @XLouIsStillTrying My last FET was unfortunately cancelled by the clinic. Currently I am waiting for further tests, and if all is okay then will go for FET in September. Good luck with the donor cycle 🍀

Oh no, I’m so sorry to hear that. I hope you are ok. September will be here in no time x

did they give you a reason why they thought best to wait? X

@XLouIsStillTrying Yes, the scans suspected a polyp and a fibroid, which were later ruled out. My TSH was also high.

Oh that’s good they could rule them out! Fingers crossed for September 🤞🏼

I think we are going October. We are just waiting for paperwork after our consultation with Dr Castillo.

Hi @Serendipity24 I've just come across this thread and have reached out to IB for more information. Are you able to share any information on the 'matching' they do? Is this one that does photos? Wishing you lots of luck if you're able to do this month.

@Kitty2024 Thanks for starting this thread and sorry to hear of your previous failed attempts. Have you decided on a clinic now, did you go with one in Spain? If so, sending luck to you too.

I'm now looking into DEs after a troubled journey over the past 3 years TTC/Loss and thinking this may have to be the next step for us.

@AppleCrumble3 Hi, thank you. The first step in the matching process is that you fill out a questionnaire detailing your and your partner's phenotype (height, eye and hair colour etc) and photos in good lighting. They can find a donor based on this information only. Or you can choose to have Genetic Compatibility Test (GCT) as well where the donor is matched genetically with your partner to rule out certain genetic conditions for the child. IB offers three different levels of GCT, you can choose the basic or the most comprehensive, or the one in between. If you choose to have GCT, then first they will select a few donors based on the questionnaire and photos. They will then run the GCT against this small pool of donors and find the most compatible one. Hope this helps, good luck 🍀