Mighty Mama Bear

When Getting Pregnant Again Isn’t Happening: Are Donor Eggs the Right Solution?

Are You a Good Candidate for Egg Donation?

Infertility is a frustrating burden to bear; even if you already have another child at home. In fact, it can be even more stressful and confusing since you know you were able to get pregnant and carry a child, or children, in the past.

Before you can even begin the secondary infertility treatment process, your doctor will probably want you to try naturally to conceive for up to a year—possibly six months if you’re over 35.

Once you’ve passed this marker, you’ll work with a fertility specialist to find a solution.

While some doctors might suggest IUI or IVF treatments, these options won’t work for everyone. If you’re looking for an alternative answer to your infertility woes, you could be an optimal candidate for a frozen donor egg cycle.

While any person may qualify for egg donation, individuals with particular conditions tend to be ideal recipients. These include:

Individuals of advanced maternal age (35+)
Premature ovarian failure
Low egg count
Poor egg quality
Individuals with genetically transmitted diseases
Unexplained infertility

If you’ve tried other treatments such as IVF and they didn’t work, this is also a good indicator egg donation could be beneficial for you.

What Does the Egg Donor Screening Process Involve?

When a person is debating whether they want to use donor eggs, they often share the same thought: how do I know my egg donor is a good choice?

Fortunately, reputable donor egg facilities put each of their prospective donors through a rigorous screening process before they’re accepted into their program. The assessment includes a variety of tests, such as:

Genetic testing and screening
General health examinations
Psychological evaluations
STD screenings
Drug tests
Personal and family history interviews

When any individual or couple hopes to use frozen donor eggs, they deserve the comfort of knowing their options are high-quality and trustworthy. With a reputable donor egg bank, you can be confident that only the best candidates are chosen to become egg donors.

What Happens After You Pick an Egg Donor?

Once you’ve selected your egg donor, your donor’s egg lot will be shipped to your fertility clinic for thawing and fertilisation.

While this is taking place, you’ll begin the physical part of the donor egg cycle process, starting with a series of reproductive health screenings, like bloodwork and ultrasounds. These tests will provide your fertility specialists with a general overview of your current reproductive condition.

Using the data collected during these tests, your physician will prescribe a series of medications, typically progesterone and oestrogen, to prepare your body for the upcoming embryo transfer.

While taking these fertility drugs, your progress will be analysed through bloodwork and ultrasounds. Your fertility team will use these tests to monitor your uterus and endometrial lining’s health and condition to ensure they’re ready for the transfer.

After they determine you’re ready, the fertilised donor egg will be placed directly into your uterus during a pain-free procedure at your clinic’s surgery centre. Two weeks after the transfer has taken place, you’ll be given a blood pregnancy test, which will hopefully provide you with the happy outcome you’ve been waiting for.

Secondary Infertility Doesn’t Have to Be the End of Your Parenting Journey

Realising getting pregnant isn’t as easy as it was before can be stressful, complicated, and overwhelming. It’s hard to wrap your head around the fact that something which happened so simply before has become so much of a challenge.

Thankfully, options to help you overcome secondary infertility exist.

Just because conception doesn’t look like it did the first time around, doesn’t mean it’s not possible. If you’re ready to add another baby to your brood, frozen donor eggs might be the answer you need.

This is a collaborative post.