5) EGG DONOR EMBRYO MAKING

Episode 5 of the IVF DADDIES podcast, hosted by JULIO GAGGIA AND RICHARD WESTOBY, titled "5) EGG DONOR EMBRYO MAKING" was published on January 9, 2024 and runs 9 minutes.

January 9, 2024 ·9m · IVF DADDIES

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Summary

12 years ago, the ability to find quality information on egg donation was limited. And I had no idea what I was doing. I spent many hours going through endless profiles of egg donors from different agencies online. Each presented their donors in a different way. Making it very dehumanising and complicated to understand. Choosing my donor, were around costs, and type of relationship with the egg donor. Key Points Discussed: Anonymous Egg donor. Semi-known Egg donor. Known Egg Donor. Costs. Pros and Cons on working with an Egg Donor Agency. Risk of working with a First time Donor. Experienced Egg Donors. Medical Screening. AFC, AMH, and STIs. The least expensive way to find a donor. Is to work with a family member or a friend. Pros and cons of using a friend or family member In my opinion, the best option to keep costs down is to work with an IVF clinics, donor database. They have no agency fee. , donors have been pre-screened and generally the egg donors live close to the clinic. All of which can save you possibly up to about 30% of the cost of making your embryos. Pros and cons of choosing. Through your IVF clinic. Pros. No agency fees. Donors are pre-screened and costs are minimized. There is a limited amount of donors as the clinic will only recruit close to the clinic. Unlike with surrogates, finding a donor through your clinic, doesn't have a conflict of interest as there are very specific medical data required to be an egg donor. And so that, you know, from the start, whether the donor is a good candidate or not, This medical data goes into her profile alongside educational and genetic history. And a lot more information so that you can make an informed choice. I looked at the photos and her profile and my donor is very Percy. However, I also noticed how handsome her brother and father were. So I knew that she was the great choice for me. At this point, I have my sperm and egg donor. And that was the part when everything lay within the hands of the clinic. All I could do was wait. It was emotional and unsettling. As the decision-making was no longer mine. When I chose her. I didn't really think about the impact of her being a first time donor. Making me question. If she. Had understood. What she was getting herself into. Especially with the injections or the effect that the medications would have on her. And if the expert grows successfully. After 11 days of injections, they retrieved 12 eggs that were then fertilized. These were grown in the lab. And on day five, I found out how many embryos were going to be frozen. This was another few days of an emotional roller coaster, because one thing I had not understood. Was that every day they're in the lab. The number of embryos drops. I was terrified that all this time emotion. And effort would end up with me having no embryos. From the initial 12, it dropped and dropped. They thankfully on day five, there was a total of six embryos for freezing. Why were the embryos frozen? There is no difference in success between fresh or frozen embryos. So the clinic focuses on the egg donor to maximize the number of eggs to retrieve without having to worry about the logistics around the surrogate. By freezing embryos. You get the option to do an embryo biopsy or PGT a pre-implantation genetic testing for. Aneuploidy. Which is where a few cells are biopsied from the outer cells of the embryo. And open up to see the number of chromosomes inside. If there are 46. Then the embryo is deemed chromosomally normal. Why do PGT a. Two main reasons. Number one. Most miscarriages happen in the first trimester due to a chromosome abnormality. So, although PGT does not guarantee a pregnancy. It does minimize the risk of a miscarriage. Number two. By looking at chromosomes, you can tell if they are X, X, Or X, Y so you can tell this X.

Episode Description

Key Points Discussed:

Anonymous Egg donor.

Semi-known Egg donor.

Known Egg Donor.

Costs.

Pros and Cons on working with an Egg Donor Agency.

Risk of working with a First time Donor.

Experienced Egg Donors.

Medical Screening.

AFC, AMH, and STIs.

The least expensive way to find a donor. Is to work with a family member or a friend.

Pros and cons of using a friend or family member

In my opinion, the best option to keep costs down is to work with an IVF clinics, donor database. They have no agency fee. , donors have been pre-screened and generally the egg donors live close to the clinic. All of which can save you possibly up to about 30% of the cost of making your embryos.

Pros and cons of choosing. Through your IVF clinic.

Pros. No agency fees. Donors are pre-screened and costs are minimized. There is a limited amount of donors as the clinic will only recruit close to the clinic.

Unlike with surrogates, finding a donor through your clinic, doesn't have a conflict of interest as there are very specific medical data required to be an egg donor. And so that, you know, from the start, whether the donor is a good candidate or not, This medical data goes into her profile alongside educational and genetic history. And a lot more information so that you can make an informed choice. I looked at the photos and her profile and my donor is very Percy.

However, I also noticed how handsome her brother and father were. So I knew that she was the great choice for me.

At this point, I have my sperm and egg donor. And that was the part when everything lay within the hands of the clinic. All I could do was wait. It was emotional and unsettling. As the decision-making was no longer mine. When I chose her. I didn't really think about the impact of her being a first time donor. Making me question. If she. Had understood. What she was getting herself into. Especially with the injections or the effect that the medications would have on her. And if the expert grows successfully.

After 11 days of injections, they retrieved 12 eggs that were then fertilized. These were grown in the lab.

And on day five, I found out how many embryos were going to be frozen.

This was another few days of an emotional roller coaster, because one thing I had not understood. Was that every day they're in the lab. The number of embryos drops. I was terrified that all this time emotion. And effort would end up with me having no embryos. From the initial 12, it dropped and dropped. They thankfully on day five, there was a total of six embryos for freezing.

Why were the embryos frozen? There is no difference in success between fresh or frozen embryos. So the clinic focuses on the egg donor to maximize the number of eggs to retrieve without having to worry about the logistics around the surrogate.

By freezing embryos.

You get the option to do an embryo biopsy or PGT a pre-implantation genetic testing for. Aneuploidy. Which is where a few cells are biopsied from the outer cells of the embryo. And open up to see the number of chromosomes inside. If there are 46. Then the embryo is deemed chromosomally normal.

Why do PGT a. Two main reasons. Number one. Most miscarriages happen in the first trimester due to a chromosome abnormality. So, although PGT does not guarantee a pregnancy. It does minimize the risk of a miscarriage. Number two. By looking at chromosomes, you can tell if they are X, X, Or X, Y so you can tell this X.