Donating Eggs... - Akron,OH

I donated eggs to my partner, so I can tell you about the process, not the payment.
Prescreen: She will be given a psychological evaluation to make sure she understands and can deal with everything that goes with giving/selling genetic material
Step 1: She will go through what is called an FDA panel where she proves to the Federal gov't that she isn't on drugs, doesn't have any major diseases, etc (Egg donation is monitored by the FDA).
Step 2. They will sync her cycle to the egg recipients using birth control pills.
Step 3. They will suppress her reproductive system using a drug called Lupron. It essentially throws the body into a temporary menopause.
Step 4. Stuimulating hormones are administered for 7 to 10 days. These are done by injection, normally in the stomach area. Some burn, some don't. During this process, she will go into the doctors office every other day to have her blood drawn. The blood draw will check her hormone levels. After the blood draw she will ususally have an internal exam. They will use an internal sonogram and they will count the follicles present and note their level of development. As this process moves along, I and many others who I talked to about the process began to feel "full" around the midsection.
Step 5. Once follicles are determined to of an appropriate size- 18-22, they will determine what day and time another shot should be given. This shot contains HCG and forces all of those follicles to release their ova, aka ovulate. The shot given is normally Ovidrel, but other brands are sometimes used.
Step 6. The retrieval is scheduled. The donor is wheeled back into a room, given very light, temporary sedation, and the retrieval is performed. During the retrieval, feet are in stirrups, similar to the follicle counting sessions, and a needle, guided by a sonogram, will be used to retrieve the ova. After its all done, you'll wake up, hang out with a friend for an hour or so, have the drive you home, take a nap, and proceed on with life.

Risks: Emotions and OHSS. OHSS is ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. It impacts about 10% of donors, but rarely has a negative impact. Essentially they will back off on the meds if they see it happening.

You do get paid, but it is not easy. First she will have to be on hormones to increase the number of viable eggs produced, this could be for a month or several. Than they harvest them which is painful but not all that invasive. If she is really thinking about this she should get in touch with a local fertility clinic and talk to someone there.

My sister has done it 3x and made $8,000/per round. She doesn't have an issue with hormones so it was fairly easy for her--she "simply" injected herself daily. She had some cramping and bloating after the retrieval, but not too bad. Mostly she did just fine with it and just found out that her first family had twin boys. It's certainly not without its risks--my sister did her senior thesis for college on the ethics of egg donations while she was donating. She also just found out that one of the twins was born with down's syndrome--it's a lot for her to process--there is a lot to think about and one shouldn't go into it without weighing all the information.

l

I just wanted to weigh in on this issue, as my daughter was conveived through IVF thanks to an egg donor. I thank God for my daughter every day, and even though we paid for our egg donor (nearly $10,000), I say a little prayer for her every day too. Without her, my daughter wouldn't be here! I know the risks involved and think if a woman is willing to do it, its a wonderful thing to do.