Donation Cycle
Following
a match with a recipient and the return of all tests results within
satisfactory ranges, your next menstrual period will usually become
the starting date of the donor cycle. Approximately twenty-one days
after the onset of your period, you will likely begin a series of
injectable medication, continuing until approximately 36 hours before
the egg retrieval. The injections are small, subcutaneous (just
below the skin's surface) shots used to stimulate egg maturation
within the ovaries. A nurse will demonstrate how to administer the
shots to yourself, which need to be taken every night for approximately
three to four weeks.
During this time, you'll
be assigned six to seven morning appointments at the fertility center's
IVF (in-vitro fertilization) unit for the purpose of monitoring your
progress on the medication and determining if your ovaries are stimulating
properly. The appointments are usually between the hours of 7:00
a.m. and 10:00 a.m. and will last approximately 30 minutes. You
must reliably communicate with the nursing staff in the afternoons
during the few days leading up to the egg retrieval. (This is so
instructions can be given about how much medication to take.)
The actual egg retrieval
usually requires sedation (administered through an IV) as a vaginal
ultrasound probe guides a small needle through the vaginal wall
to reach the ovaries and retrieve the mature eggs. You should expect
to be at the IVF center for about four hours on the day of egg retrieval
(the actual procedure takes only 20 to 30 minutes) and possibly
experience some fatigue or cramping afterwards. You will need a
ride home after the egg retrieval.
Once the eggs have been
collected, they will be combined with sperm in the IVF laboratory
and if there are viable resulting embryos, an appropriate number
of them will be transferred into the recipient's uterus. Typically,
the entire egg donation process takes at least four to six months.
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