As we grow older, we become more knowledgeable and confident, qualify for positions our juniors can only dream of, and enjoy relative financial stability. However, aging takes its toll on a woman’s physiology, which significantly affects her fertility and ability to have children later in life. If you’re over 35 and having trouble conceiving, it may be time to explore using an alternative family building method like donor egg IVF.
3 Reasons to Consider Donor Egg IVF
Here are 3 reasons to consider donor egg IVF:
- Experience Pregnancy: There will be no difference between your pregnancy experience and those of another pregnant woman. You may fear your pregnancy will be abnormal, but nothing is further from the truth. You’ll experience the typical hormonal changes, baby kicks, food cravings, mood swings, nausea, and sheer joy of carrying and sustaining a life. Then, you’ll give birth to your very own beautiful bundle of love.
- Genetic Influence: You may grieve the loss of a genetic connection with your future baby, but studies show that you can still influence your baby’s DNA.
MicroRNA molecules are secreted in the womb through endometrial fluid to nurture and regulate the DNA expression of the embryo, which results in modifying its DNA expression. This is known as epigenesis. This process explains why many donor egg IVF babies can still look like their mothers.
Whether your baby looks like you or not, you’re the biological mother of the baby. After all, sometimes children with both parents’ DNA don’t resemble their biological parents.
- A Happy Family Like Every Other: You’ll build a perfectly happy family and revel in the fulfillment of being a mother, just like every other mother. You’ll look at your baby and see the life you supported with your own during the nine months of mother-baby bonding in pregnancy.
Fresh Eggs or Frozen Eggs?
If you decide to move forward with donor egg IVF, you can choose between using fresh eggs or frozen eggs. Both are equally viable options for experiencing a successful pregnancy, and all egg donors are screened thoroughly before qualifying for donation. However, fresh donor egg IVF is a more involved path to parenthood because it’s more expensive, requires more paperwork (such as hiring a lawyer for drafting contracts), and takes significantly more time from start to finish. With frozen eggs, all necessary forms and procedures are addressed in advance.
Choosing Your Donor
If using fresh donated eggs, you will need to select a donor from your family, friends, or a small regional pool of anonymous donors.
If you choose frozen eggs over fresh, you’re able to search a nationwide database filled with comprehensive profiles of anonymous frozen egg donors. This ensures you have the largest selection of donors to find your perfect match. Based on their extensive profiles, you can evaluate their physical traits, education, personalities, medical history, and so on before making your choice.
How Frozen Donor Egg IVF Works
Though both fresh eggs and frozen eggs require similar medication, if you choose to use frozen eggs, your treatment schedule will be more flexible because you won’t have to synchronize the donor’s menstrual cycle with your own. Cycle synchronization is only required if you choose to use fresh eggs, which takes more time.
- First, you’ll be given birth control pills to keep you from ovulating. Then, you’ll take estrogen before you take progesterone. After a few weeks, your doctor will check your uterus for indications of pregnancy readiness.
- Then, an embryologist will thaw and fertilize the frozen eggs. Three to five days later, your doctor will transfer 1-2 of the fertilized eggs into your uterus in a short outpatient procedure.
- Two weeks later, your pregnancy will be confirmed by a blood pregnancy test.
Everything It Takes
With donor egg IVF, you have everything it takes to be the happy, fulfilled biological mother you hope to be!