How Egg Donor Stimulation Works

New Life’s fertility clinic works a little differently than most other clinics to ensure the comfort and convenience of our families and egg donors. The most notable difference is, rather than disrupting the donor’s life by requiring them to be in the destination clinic for two weeks, we work closely with one of our local IVF clinics to start the stimulation process. Then, on days 8 and 9 of the stimulation, the egg donor will be sent to the destination clinic. There are a number of reasons why we do this:

1. It lowers the financial obligation of the parents-to-be: When egg donors need to travel to a destination clinic, the parents-to-be are responsible for all associated costs with the two-week stimulation process, including hotel rooms, transportation fees, and donor compensation expenses. Performing the majority of the stimulation in a local clinic eliminates much of these expenses to keep our programs affordable for our families.

2. It minimizes associated risks: There is a variety of medical concerns that can end the stimulation process or result in an unsuccessful attempt.

If an egg donor is at a destination clinic, this adds unnecessary financial stress for our families; but, by providing the stimulation services in a local clinic until days 8 and 9 we can ensure the process was successful and keep costs at a minimum. Some medical risks include follicle cysts that prevent stimulation from being started or fulfilled or unresponsive follicles that result in the stimulation ending in the middle of the process.

3. It reduces stress for our egg donors: Many of our donors have families and jobs, and the thought of being away from their loved ones and daily obligations for two weeks causes undue stress. To keep our egg donors happy, comfortable and stress-free, we provide them with the same service and high-quality care in a local clinic before asking them to travel to a destination clinic for the end of the stimulation.

What to Expect During Egg Donor Stimulation

Our doctors are consistently involved with the stimulation process even while the egg donor coordinates with one of our local clinics. Your destination clinic will maintain contact with the donor and team at the local clinic every step of the way, with results consistently communicated to the destination clinic. This allows the IVF doctor to be aware and informed throughout the stimulation so they are knowledgeable about your program and donor’s progress when they arrive for final admission.

Stimulation Days 1, 5 and 8

Our team checks for progress on days 1, 5 and 8 of the stimulation process by scanning the egg donors. This scan is sent to the destination clinic, in addition to a report of the follicle numbers in each ovary and their sizes, injection doses and estradiol results.

Stimulation Days 8 and 9

Egg donors are expected to be at the destination clinic on days 8 and 9, accompanied by chaperons to make sure they are safe and taken care of while they are away from home. At this time, our local IVF doctor will check the egg donor, set trigger timing and assign the egg retrieval dates.

End of Stimulation

After the egg retrieval has been performed, the egg donor will be discharged from the clinic. Our doctors will check her the day after retrieval to make sure she is feeling well and can safely fly back home.

Meet Your Egg Donor

We encourage you to meet with your egg donor prior to the stimulation process so you can feel confident in the decision you have made for your growing family. We can arrange a meeting with your donor and a New Life staff member, who will be in attendance to keep you and our egg donor comfortable and help answer any questions either of you may have.