If you had a donor egg pregnancy did you have any complications?

[Eggworries]

I’m worried as I read a thread yesterday about surrogacy but it linked to some studies saying that when a baby is not 50% identical to the mother you can have complications with the placenta or preeclampsia risk higher and also gestational diabetes risk is higher.

My only option to have a baby is donor eggs and now I’m scared after reading all this and wondered is it that common to have complications?

Are symptoms worse in general due to the immune system working harder to not reject a 100% rather than 50% foreign embryo ? Please can anyone offer reassurance?

@Eggworries Yes research does show these increased risks...it means you'll be monitored more closely, consultant led, extra scans etc. I'm DE and felt awful up to 16 weeks but perking up a bit now! Of course, it's hard to know if I'd have felt this bad if own eggs and I'll never know but i didn't realise about the risks when I had treatment and I do think clinics should offer more transparent info. I'd have still gone ahead though! Based on my own entirely unscientific and small sample, a friend who is 22 weeks is still ill and sick and used own eggs and two other friends who used DE seemed fine! It's clearly an important variable but not sole factor for symptoms more ongoing risks of pre-eclampsia, pre-term birth, c section etc. Essex University published an interesting study recently challenging that NICE guidelines don't routinely class DE pregnancy as high risk despite evidence. I wonder if it's due to small samples and DE obviously not the norm?

Thankyou , I know what you mean as nobody had told me about any negatives at my appointments only positives about how the success rate is so good etc , which is great but I have managed to really worry myself since reading the surrogate thread. I know I’ll still go ahead as it’s my only option but if it works at least I’ll know and hopefully be kept a closer eye on.

No, never even heard that was a thing and I have 6 year old twins from donor eggs. No complications

That's the thing though that I hadn't heard about these risks either. It's only when you proactively conduct research of credible and peer reviewed studies that you educate yourself about it. I do think clinics could be more upfront about the risks and ongoing issues that can occur so that we can make fully informed choices but I guess they'd say you should do it yourself!

I’m wondering if perhaps the risk is actually coming from something else related to why we have fertility issues ? So that’s what makes donor egg pregnancy higher risk ? That it’s being connected but it’s not actually the donor egg aspect ? Maybe I’m just needing to reassure myself !

In general, every event in life carries some level of risk — even something as common as flying on a plane or crossing the road. There’s always a chance of a negative outcome, but the same is true for natural pregnancy as well.
The good news is that today’s clinics are far more experienced than they were even a few years ago. Many of them now use AI-based tools to improve success rates, and some clinics also offer money-back guarantee programs. These programs are usually more expensive, but if pregnancy doesn’t occur, the clinic refunds the cost, which can give some peace of mind.
The support team at egg donation friends is very experienced in this field and knows many of the nuances — including which clinics are more or less experienced with specific patient profiles. I’m not sure whether they answer very detailed medical questions, but a friend of mine once contacted them with something she thought they wouldn’t reply to, and surprisingly, they did.
My doctor also advised me not to rely too much on medical information found online, especially nowadays when it’s hard to know who created the content — particularly with AI-generated material everywhere. She said that if I want truly reliable medical information, the best source is PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ Everything else should be taken with caution.
Hope this helps a bit 💛

I was monitored more closely during pregnancy because of my age (close to 40) and not specifically because of having used an egg donor. The hospital did ask for some information from my clinic about some of them genetic screening of the donor.

I know some people don't even tell their doctor they have had IVF or donor egg treatment, perhaps they would if risks were more widely known. I don't know a lot about the risks specific to egg donation and like you OP it was my only option anyway to experience pregnancy.

Some hospitals routinely class IVF pregnancies as higher risk. I have seen some debate about that, and not wanting women to go overdue. My hospital didn't want me to go overdue but also completely refused to go by IVF dates for dating scan and measured me ahead of a very definite conception date.

There is an increased risk but that said I had preeclampsia with my own eggs and a friend who used a donor egg didn’t.

A medicated frozen embryo transfer can be a risk for preeclampsia also. If I had known that I would have asked for a natural transfer.

As I was under a private recurrent miscarriage clinic I had a 12 week scan with their fetal medicine consultant who is a Professor and he identified I was at high risk for preeclampsia (based on my scan and blood tests and IVF risk factor etc) and advised me to take aspirin until 36 weeks. My preeclampsia then developed pretty much exactly after I stopped aspirin but my baby made it to almost 38 weeks and was fine.

My NHS 12 week scan said I was low risk for preeclampsia so very glad I had the private scan!

Best of luck.