Thank you so much for such generous & genuinely helpful responses. Dixxie, I love the "wrong side of forty" quip: both elegant & ambiguous, even I I do secretly feel that I'm finally the "right" side 😊 Sheera41, congratulations to you too! You must be thrilled to have reached 11 weeks; I can hardly wait to join you. I'd be very interested to hear how your "reveal" goes. And Rezolution123, in 1997, you were one of the real pioneering revolutionaries. I feel incredibly lucky & privileged to have the opportunity of following in your brave footsteps.
Our child(ren) are also the result of donor eggs & my husband's sperm, and will know their origins from the outset. Because we've done the process in the USA & who we chose, they'll also be able to meet their genetic donor if & when they want, even before they're 18. Hopefully, they'll also have several direct siblings, both within our family & beyond. In the States, "alternative" reproduction (donors, 3rd party gestational surrogacy, etc) is becoming increasingly common; however, where we live in the UK just now (Scotland), it's still treated as an astonishing novelty -- and that's just by the medics we've dealt with so far!
So, already feeling somewhat freakish because of the above, I'm hugely grateful to the three of you for alleviating some of my "age concerns"! Knowing there are people as supportive & understanding as you out there makes all the difference. Thank you again.