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How to Select an Egg Donor
If your physician has suggested that you need egg donation, the process
of selecting an egg donor can be rather daunting and can feel
overwhelming. This can also involve grieving, as your realize that, with
egg donation, you'd be losing the hope of a genetic link to your future
child.
It's true that your child will not have your genes, but you will be the
child's mother, and your influence in raising and nurturing
that child will cannot be overstated.
And as it's been said, even if you have a genetically related child,
"There's no lifeguard at the gene pool."
No matter which donor you select, you are going to love and cherish
this child regardless of eye color, hair color, or other physical
characteristics.
Types of Egg Donors
- An anonymous egg
donor is one that is not personally known to you. With anonymous egg
donation, the egg donor’s true identity (name and address) is kept
confidential in order to ensure privacy and anonymity. Similarly, your
identity will not be disclosed to the donor. The majority of egg donors
are anonymous.
- In some cases, the intended parents select the anonymous egg donor
from an infertility clinic or
independent egg donor agency list. Typically, donors are
listed online, along with quite a bit of information about the donors,
plus one or more photos.
- In other cases, you may be working with an egg donor program that
will do the matching on your behalf, usually by finding a donor that
matches your physical characteristics.
- A known egg donor
is one which you find on your own. She might be a friend or relative, or
you might advertise for an egg donor.
Egg donor minimum requirements
Whether a donor is anonymous, or known, minimum requirements should be met
in order to qualify.
Requirements are set by the clinic or egg donor agency, and do vary to
some extent. Some examples of
minimum requirements are that the donor candidate:
- be between the ages of 21 and 32
- be a non-smoker
- have no personal/family history of drug abuse
- have no personal/family history of alcoholism
- have no personal/family history of depression
- have an acceptable health history
- have not gotten new tattoos or piercings in the last 12 months
- have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of less than 30. BMI is measured by
using your height and weight (BMI
calculator)
- be available for all necessary appointments,
including psychological evaluation, medical appointments at the IVF
clinic or laboratories (or if from out of town, able to travel and stay
for the medical appointments where the IVF clinic is located)
- has a history of a past pregnancy (can be helpful, but is not
typically required)
Screening
All donor candidates, known or
anonymous, must be thoroughly screened before being accepted as a donor.
Screening could take from one to two months to complete. Types of
screening are:
- Medical screening
- Psychological counseling
- Genetic counseling
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