1. Egg donation process
a. Ovarian suppression visit: On the 2nd or 3rd day of your period, you will have a clinic appointment for an ultrasound and blood test. If everything looks good you will start birth control pills to help schedule your egg donation cycle. Birth control pills are typically prescribed for 2-3 weeks.
b. Stimulation start: Approximately 4 days after your last birth control pill, you will come back to the clinic to have another ultrasound and blood tests. If everything looks good, you will start taking daily injections of fertility hormones. The purpose of the hormones is to recruit multiple egg follicles to grow. You will need to come to the clinic 4-5 times over a 10-12-day period while you are taking the hormone injections for ultrasound and blood tests.
c. Egg Retrieval: The final step is the egg retrieval surgery. You will receive medicine through the IV for sedation, you will not feel any pain or remember the procedure. A needle will be passed through the vagina into the ovaries and each follicle will be aspirated. The whole procedure takes approximately 30 minutes. After a 1 hour rest in the recovery room you will be discharged home. 10-14 days later you will have a period.
2. Risks to egg donation
The overall risk of egg donation is low. The hormone injections used for stimulation can have a wide range of side effects including: bloating, mood swings, headaches, ovarian cysts formation, and ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). OHSS causes swelling as fluid collects in the abdomen leading to abdominal bloating, feeling of fullness, nausea, diarrhea, and shortness of breath. Most of the cases are mild to moderate, but severe cases may need to be hospitalized for treatment.
Egg donation does not reduce the number of eggs available for future cycles. In a typical ovulation cycle, a group of eggs become available to grow that month, however only enough hormone is produced by your brain to mature one egg so that it may ovulate and fertilize. The remainder of the eggs will die. The hormone injections function to support the eggs that would otherwise die, to grow and mature. Therefore, donors do not lose additional eggs through the process of egg donation.
3. Donor compensation
We believe that there is no price-tag for the priceless gift you are giving. Financial compensation is to respect your dedication, effort, time and any possible discomfort associated with the egg donation process. CCRH offers one of the highest compensation for egg donation in the greater Los Angeles region. Donors may receive from $5000-10,000 a cycle depending on their qualifications and previous donation experience.
4. Refer-A-Friend
Help raise awareness for infertility and be rewarded! Discover our referral program. Earn a $50 prepaid Visa/MasterCard card for every friend you refer that qualifies and enrolls in our Egg Donation Program.
Please contact us at [email protected] or call us at 818-907-1571 for more information to become an egg donor.
