A large percentage (65%-70%) of women over 45 years of age use Egg donors as a treatment option for bearing a child.
If you’re over 40, have low ovarian reserve, previous failed response to injections in IVF treatment, donor eggs can help you carry and deliver a baby. This option is also better if you are prone to passing a genetic disease to your baby.
The couple will first choose the egg donor, either themselves or with the help of the clinic. In some cases where the quality of male sperm is not good, donor embryos (combined sperm and eggs from donors) may be chosen.
In case you choose an anonymous egg donor, Ridge IVF can help you with selecting a suitable donor based on your requirements as well as do extensive medical, psychological and genetic screening of the donor.
After the donor is selected, both the woman and the donor are given Lupron to get the reproductive cycles in sync so that the donor’s ovulation is at the time when the woman’s uterus can take the embryo.
The donor will be given injections to help her to develop several mature eggs for fertilization, while you will receive estrogen and progesterone to prepare lining of your uterus for pregnancy. Once her eggs are mature they will be collected under ultrasound guidance.
Subsequently, sperm will be combined with donor’s eggs in a laboratory. Within 5 days embryos will develop and will be inserted into the woman’s uterus (usually 2-3 embryos are inserted). Extra good quality embryos can be frozen in case of failure in the first cycle. The frozen embryos can then be used in a fresh cycle if the patient wishes to undergo the same.
A pregnancy test is taken 2 weeks after the procedure.