Learn about the egg donation process and how it can result in the birth of a healthy baby

The egg donation process at our Connecticut fertility center often helps patients fulfill the dream of parenthood. IVF with donor eggs helps women bypass a variety of fertility challenges. Common examples include inheritable genetic conditions and issues related to ovarian reserve (egg supply). Egg donation also offers same-sex male couples and single men a path to fatherhood.

The egg donation process begins with the selection of an egg donor

When patients decide to move forward with donor eggs, our clinic walks them through each step. These steps begin with consultations and screenings to ensure the patients have a full understanding of the process.

Meeting the doctor. The egg donation process begins with a consultation with Dr. Andrew Levi at our Connecticut fertility center. During this consultation, the doctor provides an overview of egg donation. This includes discussing frozen embryo transfer.

Recipient screening. To confirm female patients can carry a pregnancy, they receive an ultrasound. Male patients undergo semen analysis to verify the health of their sperm. They may also undergo preconception genetic testing to determine if they carry any inheritable conditions.

Consultation with our third party coordinator. Patients meet with our donor egg coordinator to discuss the characteristics they’d like in a donor. The coordinator then begins a search for egg donors based on the preferences the recipient is looking for.

Reviewing donor profiles. Patients review egg donor profiles. These profiles include childhood photos of the donors and information about their health, ethnicity, personality, talents, education and more. Although we provide this information, all egg donors are anonymous.

Match confirmation. Once a match is found, they then work with the third party coordinator and Dr. Levi to create a preliminary schedule for the egg donation cycle.

When these steps are complete, the patients are ready to move forward with building a family using donor eggs.

The next steps of IVF with donor eggs

During IVF with donor eggs, our clinic regularly communicates with the patients. After Dr. Levi retrieves the donor eggs, he sends them to the lab. There, an embryologist fertilizes them with sperm from the patient, the patient’s partner or a sperm donor. After fertilization, the embryologist can perform preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) on the resulting embryos. The next step of IVF with donor eggs involves the embryologist freezing the embryos.

With a frozen transfer, the recipient takes the following medications when they’re ready to move forward with the transfer.

• The first medication the recipient takes is a gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist. This medication prevents ovarian follicular development and the thickening of the uterine lining.
• They then take estrogen and progesterone to stimulate the thickening of the uterine lining at the ideal time.

Donor egg recipients with no ovarian function typically do not need to take GnRH agonist and instead just receive estrogen and progesterone.

After the embryo transfer, the donor egg recipient continues taking estrogen and progesterone for about eight to 10 weeks. Doing so supports the implantation of the embryo.

IVF with donor eggs at our Connecticut fertility center is the most effective path to parenthood for many people. Contact us to learn more about IVF with donor eggs and the egg donation process.