Egg Donation Emotion

[ringo65]

Hi

Yesterday my DH & I were told following lots of tests that the best chance of us conceiving was to look at egg donation.
I am 39 and it appears that all things are pointing towards the fact that my body has started that menopause journey...we have been trying for a long time so it was upsetting to learn that the best chances are egg donor.

I am feeling positive today about it, but I am worried that I would forever be thinking that's really not my baby, although I know that I would be nurturing the baby in my womb and really it is my baby just genetically it isn't...but its a thought at the back of my head - its very hard to explain.

Are these natural thoughts and has anybody else been down this road and had these worries before hand, will they pass once I am pregnant?

Thank you, I'm a bit mixed up. x

I have not yet got all my tests back but early indications show that my ovaries are considerably more aged than me. Poo. So donor eggs have been very much on my mind. It is a very strange set of emotions, like the end of my genes but not dhs. Odd, scary but I know I'll get my head around it and ill just be glad if anything worked right now. Have you already had ivf cycles?

I dont know anything about recieving eggs. But i donated last year and my donor had twins. I have a thread in chat to celebrate.

To me my eggs are not my children, my children are the ones i have hadwith my partner.

You will grow this baby, birth it and raise it, it will be yours. I as an egg donor simply provided the missing ingredient to help someone on their way, they do all the hard work.

You can get counselling to explore your thoughts and feelings, it must be a big thing to come to terms with.

Good luck and much love xxx

It's a really individual decision. We decided quite early on against donor eggs/sperm. We are trying IVF and if that doesn't work, we will consider adoption or a child-free life.

What made us decide against it was the imbalance - the child would be genetically one parent's but not the other's and in my case the drive to have children was not a head decision but a primal urge to pass on my genes, and donor eggs wouldn't help me with that. For other people, neither of these things matter or they have completely different concerns.

Thank you everyone...rabbitonthemoon - I am the same as you, my body is on that menopausal road at a younger age which is why IVF is not going to be an option as the ovary stimulation they do will not produce enough eggs due to the lack of follicles I have (3).

5madthings...you really are a special person and it is really lovely to hear from someone who has donated, I know nobody who has had IVF, egg donor or been a donor so it really was nice to read your comment.

EuroShaggleton...I know how you feel when I started on this journey it was about creating something that would be of both my DH & I, and egg donor seems to go against that choice. The clinic we are with are providing us with counselling in a few weeks so I hopefully will have sorted out my feelings towards it afterwards.

Thank you all for your input I really appreciate it x

5madthings
Do you mind my asking why you decided to be an egg donor and how you went about it?
Is it something that is needed, donors I mean, or are there eggs a plenty out there if you need them?
Thanks, I only ask as it's something I would consider doing if it could help a couple have a child.

ring I'm having natural IVF because I hate the idea of pumping myself full of all of those drugs, but it is usually suggested for women who wouldn't get a good response from conventional IVF.

I've done one round and am about to do a second. On my first round I had one mature follicle - the one I naturally produce from which I would ovulate on a natural cycle - and they collected one egg. I got my BFP from that (although sadly miscarried). I mention this just to show that you don't need loads of eggs to get an embryo.

If you decide donor eggs is not for you, it might be worth looking into it. Not many clinics offer it though. Mine is Create. if you are near London, it might be worth popping along to one of their open days? You get a 5 min mini consultation with the director, as well as the info pack and presentation.

I decided to be a donor as i have been extremely fortunate to have my five. I got preg easily and had easy pregnancies and births. I was an ideal candidate because of that. I was lucky and i wanted to share that luck. I saw an advert for a charity that matches egg donors, enquired more and decidd i would be happy to donate. There is counselling and genetic trsting etc you have to go through to become a donor. The process was simple enough and i found it fine.

I feel.honoured that i could help someone fulfill their dream of having a baby,in my case two! its an amazing process and i am beyond thrilled it worked for my egg recipient. I dont know who she is other than basic details and we are unlikely to ever meet (tho the children are entitled to request my details when they become adults). i am.just pleased i was able to help, fertility is just a lottery, i got lucky. I cant imagine the pain of infertility, i have seen friends struggle through it and was just pleased to be able to help.

There is a shortage of donors so yes they are much needed, its not something everyone can do, we all have personal feelings etc but if you can its an amazing thing to be part of :)

Thank you. I too have been very lucky to have my two, got pregnant on my first try with both of them.
We aren't having any more children and I just thought maybe I could help someone else.
I'll do a bit of research then. Is it a painful process to donate?

Not painful no. Blood tests, then i went on the pill for a month to regulate my cycle to match my recipient. Then daily injections to stimulate eggs. I had to have scans frequently to check on the follicles. These were done internally but it was fine. They call.it the 'dildocam' lol. It was fine. Then i has the egg retrieval under general, went very smoothly i was only under for half an hour and went home a few hours later. I was really looked after by the nurses etc. It all went very smoothly.

And where in the uk are you? I think because I am in the north of Scotland it might be tricky (and costly) if you need to make lots of trips to a clinic. I can't imagine there are any up here.
Did you have any side effects from the injections?

So sorry op to hijack your thread x

No problem Purplehonesty I think you are amazing to consider it as it looks as though you go through quite a lot for a purely selfless act.

I am with CARE and live in the Yorkshire area, they told me that with the lack of follicles I have and the results from my blood test, also I have blocked tubes on one side that I have less that 5% chance on IVF and it was not an option they wanted to consider, I have a lot to think about as I am having NHS funded treatment at the moment but this is limited.

Good luck with your natural IVF EuroShaggleton, I hope round 2 is successful, I have not heard of this option before, I am new to all this and know no body in or have been in my situation.

The Eggcellent egg buddies thread over in contraception is full of folks having IVF in June/July/August, so if you want some company hop over and find us. There are a couple of women going for or who have recently had donor egg treatment on there at the moment.

Thank you EuroShaggleton...I'm off over there now x

PurpleHonesty - have a look at Altrui (www.Altrui.co.uk) and give them a call. I donated recently through them and they were really brilliant and supportive.

I agree with 5madthings... eggs is eggs, parents are what make a person.

Ringo I think what you are feeling is completely normal, the ladies I've spoken to who have had to use egg donors all feel the same at some point but only you and your DH will know what is best. Good luck, I hope whatever you choose works out for you xx

I donated through altrui as well. All your travelling costs etc are covered for you :)

I donated through altrui as well. All your travelling costs etc are covered for you :)

Hi OP. My DD was born last year and we used an egg donor. It has made no difference at all to how I feel about her, other than that she is extra special because it took us 6 years to have her! We did our treatment abroad due to the long waiting lists in the UK. The clinic were lovely and did everything they could to enable us to succeed (it took two tries). We will tell DD all about it as soon as she is old enough to understand.

Pm me if you like.

Sorry I had to write less than I wanted as DD needed putting to bed...

Yes I think it is quite normal to worry about these things. I did have a few 'woah...my nieces are my genetic relations and DD won't be...' moments during the pregnancy, but since DD was born it doesn't matter at all. The extended family all know the circumstances of her conception and it hasn't made any difference to how they treat her -- she has been a source of great joy all round.

I think it probably helped i) that we had been considering adoption so had already been through the thought process about having a child who didn't look like us (in fact DD does resemble DH and his family) and ii) I have a niece who looks very like me. Also I am a practical person and decided not to get too hung up about it -- I was just happy we had finally found a positive consultant and a treatment that seemed to have a good chance of working.

The country where we had treatment only permits anonymous donation and I have been thinking a lot about the donor -- who was she, what was her motivation? I am very grateful to her obviously but will never meet her. We have given DD names that originate from the part of the world where the donor was from (probably, the donors are not necessarily nationals of the treatment country) to say thank you. The fee she was paid was quite large relative to living costs in that country. I hope she got a year's college fees out of it or whatever she needed...

I had some worries about not knowing DD's genetics but on the other hand the donors are tested very thoroughly (unlike people conceiving in the regular way) and I figure one may well be able to get one's genome sequenced as a run of the mill thing, by the time DD is older.

By the way, non-UK clinics don't require counselling but I think it's a good idea. I spent a couple of hours pouring my heart out to a counsellor before we did the first treatment and felt a lot better for it.

The main stress was having to travel a long distance at short notice for the treatments -- getting time off work without being able to discuss what for, etc, and family and friends not understanding what the treatment was or why we needed it, and asking daft or upsetting questions. I ended up feeling like I needed a press officer!

Ring sorry you've had that news, I know it's a shock but look at it positively in that you know what your options are. Many women never know this and try for years to conceive.

Btw I'm 35 weeks today having used donor eggs. I wanted to be a mum sooooo much it really didn't take DP and me long to decide to use donor eggs when we knew that was our only option. I'm not saying it never crosses my mind, but once you know there is a little person growing inside you, you will just fall in love with them. And that love grows and grows as they do. I feel like I know her having been so close to her for all these months. She kicks and wriggles all day - she is mine and I love her to bits. You'll be the same

Good luck

Ringo I've got donor egg twins via Care Manchester

I think of them as 'my children', after all I developed them from 5-6 cells in size, through to 6lb babies. Having said that, I do often think of the wonderful woman that helped them to be here, if that makes sense.

Google 'genetic expression', it makes interesting reading that suggests that I caused certain genes to be expressed in my children, that wouldn't have been expressed had they been developed in the donor's womb. This certainly appears to be the case with my two, they both demonstrate characteristics that are so similar to mine it's uncanny. I also often hear that DS looks just like hid dad, and DD is the image of me

Good luck if you decide to go ahead, it's not an easy decision to make, and isn't an option that is acceptable to everyone, but I'm so glad I did it.

I've been reading this thread with great warmth in my heart to know that so many lovely ladies would consider dim donating their eggs.

We've just had a failed 5th cycle with donor sperm back up. It revealed that my eggs are also a factor.

As many other ladies have commented my husband and I so long to have our family that after 5 failed rounds we really feel that we must take the most probable route for success, this therefore means and egg and a sperm donor for us.

Please read my thread of FF if you're interested in learning more about our story.

www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=307208.0

We would love to find a donor who could make our dream possible. :-)

Thank you for all your replies it is really helping, OpheliaBumps, thank you for the Google suggestion and your comments about your twins has made me feel a lot more positive about the whole thing so thank you.

Congratulations Pocket1 and thank you for your comments on how you feel again it makes me feel a whole lot better.

I also donated and echo what 5madthings says. As far as I'm concerned, I gave a cell, and everything else was up to the mother.
My donation was known and I know that the mother totally feels that the baby born is hers, although I know how grateful she is
Hope this helps. I also found Fertility Friend useful.
:)