[tinytreasure]

Hi everyone!
New to the forum and looking for any women or couples to talk to about using egg donation through IVF as a way to achieve a pregnancy. I am 39 yrs old and was diagnosed with premature ovarian failure at the age of 25. I was absolutely devastated! I just recently got engaged and my fiance and I are very anxious to have a child. He is very supportive! We are in the process of IVF but waiting on our donor to be screened. Is anyone currently using egg donation through IVF and what are your emotions that you went through? I would love to hear your story. I want to share my experience with others as well, and just be able to talk to someone that truly knows how I feel. Someone who has been through it. Looking forward to talking to you!

[Poppycorn95]

I don't personally have experience with donor eggs, but I know several women on here are going through this process. The weekends are a little slow on the groups, but hopefully one of them will be online soon to post about it.

[hopeful2bmom]

Tiny treasure,
I posted to you in your other thread! I am anxious to talk to you.
Susan

[odmom2b]

Hi! I have been reading everyone's posts for some time now and have finally gotten enough courage to register and post for myself! I was so moved by your note, because I have been feeling the same way for some time. My story is different, but the emotions are probably very similar. I had a D&C for endometrial polyps in 1999, an open myomectomy and had 16 fibroids removed in 2000 and had another D&C for endometrial polyps again in 2004. I was in my 30's during that time and had not met the perfect guy that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I continued to have complaints about my periods, but my gyn (and myself, honestly) did not want to pursue any other options since there were no prospects of having a baby any time soon. Finally, I met my future husband in Jan. 2006 and we married in Oct. 2006--I was 40, he was 43. In Jan. 2007 I went to a fertility specialist and was finally diagnosed with an elevated FSH (30), and after ultrasounds, an HSG and a pelvic MRI, recurrent fibroids that were altering the internal lining of the uterus, plus adenomyosis. I had a repeat open myomectomy w/hysteroscopy and D&C in May 2007 and my doctor removed the fibroids and as much of the adenomyosis as he could. In Aug. 2007, after another HSG and a uterine saline test (I can't recall what that is called), it was determined that I had cervical stenosis (which was also noted at the 2004 D&C) and endometrial adhesions. So, I had another hysteroscopy and the adhesions were removed. A uterine catheter was left in to prevent further adhesions and, I suppose, possibly to help keep the cervix open somewhat. In the meantime, it seems that I have suffered from repeat infections of the uterus/urinary tract system and have been on so many rounds of antibiotics that I can no longer keep track! In September, after hearing that we were good to go for IVF w/egg donation, I tried a mock cycle w/estrogen patches and later progesterone in oil. At the end of the mock cycle my doctor performed an endometrial biopsy, which showed that I was 2 days behind on the cycle. Any more than that would have warranted trying the cycle again w/different formualations. Whew! I scraped by on that one! The endometrial biopsy was horrible, and the doctor had trouble passing the catheter through due to the fact that I have a very tipped uterus and--once again--cervical stenosis. The endometrial biopsy also showed some cells that were not supposed to be in the endometrial lining at that phase of my cycle--eosinophils--so, the pathologist recommended a repeat biopsy. My doctor tried that 2 days ago and basically gave up on it due to the difficulty of the procedure, my discomfort, and the fact that the biopsy was not absolutely necessary at this point (not like at the end of the mock cycle). So, I am back on 2 weeks of doxycycline in case the eosinophils were there due to infection. Ugh! However, my doctor is comfortable w/this and wants us to continue with our REAL cycle! Finally! The fertility center that I go to found us a donor (who sounds awsome!), and we will be sync'd up next week at the end of the week. I will start Lupron in 5 days. When I have my Lupron period (in ~2wks.) I will go in under oral sedation (demerol and valium by mouth) and have my cervix dilated again and try the trial transfer then. The doctor thinks that should help things move along smoother. If all goes as planned, after 11 months of very hard work, we should be taking a pregnancy test around the 3rd week of December!!!! Woo hoo!

I would love to hear your story also. There is SO much more, of course, like dealing with all of the emotions that came up when I found out that my FSH was elevated, finding out that using an egg donor was our only chance at having a baby, dealing with the idea that I would not be genetically linked to my child, deciding whether or not to tell anyone else, etc.... I am JUST NOW coming to grips with all of this, but it is still a very difficult journey. Not the journey that we would have chosen for ourselves, but the one that we are on now nonetheless. I am happy to be a part of this group, to follow how everyone is progressing along, and hopefully to be able to contribute something myself to the forum in time that may be of help to someone else!

[Georgia Girl]

I haven't been here for awhile...haven't felt as though many people here could understand what all we are going through...until I read your story. We are doing donor egg. This will be the 5th time I have gone through stims and I am emotionally exhausted with all of this!

Lupron started Thursday last week with ER and ET probably around Nov 27th and Dec 2nd. hope to have my beta around the 12th.

Good Luck to you both! Keep in touch...
Kym

[Kay]

My DH and I are considering egg donation. We have just been through an ectopic pregnancy and surgery after a FET from donated embryos. Currently there are no embryos available to us. I have a few concerns. I am nervous about a donor changing her mind mid cycle, after we had spent a lot of money. Or that she would not respond well to stim. Are there some encouraging stories out there? I am hoping we could cycle in Jan. or Feb. Is anyone else going to be on a similar schedule?
Kay

[odmom2b]

I am so sorry for your loss. Not having ever been pregnant before, I can only guess how awful this has been for you.

Fortunately, I have not had any problems w/a donor backing out. The donor that we have currently has been awsome, but she is anonymous and has not started her meds yet. I pray that she does not change her mind mid-cycle! We had a difficult time finding a donor--we asked a close friend first and she declined, then we asked a person who was suggested to us by another couple that had used an egg donor (not her, though) and she did not pass the screening. Our fertility clinic has a very young in-house donor program going and does not have a lot of women on their list. The women they passed by us (I think there were 3) were not what we thought we were looking for. Finally, on the day that I was told the mutual acquaintance would not pass her screening, this anonymous donor had passed her initial screening--plus, she sounded exactly like what we had envisioned for our donor! I could not believe our blessing! So, that is our experience. I don't know how often women back out, but I think that is just the worst thing that one woman can do to another, unless there is a very good medical reason. I am also nervous about how our donor will respond to meds, but she is 29 and has already had two children, so by all accounts she should be a good candidate for the meds. She has been wonderful otherwise. She has asked about us in general terms and is very supportive of our decision to do this, and her desire to donate in order to help us have the gift of a baby seems to be genuine. Our coordinator tells us just enough about her that I feel close to her in some ways without having ever met her. That's such a great feeling. And in the long run, I am glad that the known donors did not work out. I actually found myself feeling jealous of my friend when we first approached her and she said that she would consider it. I tried to get over that, and I might have, but I cannot say for certain that I would have. I do think that it might have been a little awkward if it had worked out, but I don't know. That's something I'll never know. Everyone is different in how they handle this.

Good luck in making your decision. We had probably 7 or 8 months to sit and chew on the idea of egg donation before we really came down to the wire with it, so that helped a lot. It takes time to let it sink in and become a reality, if this is the path that you chose. There are not certainties, but at least my DH and I can feel like we've done all that we possibly could.

[Kay]

odmom, thanks for sharing your story with me. I am so glad things are working out for the best for you! You are on your way! It must be nice to have a "familiar" feeling with your donor with out the akwardness of actually knowing her. Blessings to you and I pray you get your BFP real soon.
I just received 7 profiles of egg donors from my clinic. Three or which are good candidates. Now we need to decide if this is the route we will be taking. I am glad though to have a couple of possibilities. God bless these women who are willing to donate eggs to people like us!
Kay

[FurBaby]

Hey ladies,

Just wanted to chime in. I've just gone through donor egg IVF, and it looks like we had success. This is a really hard decision to make, and we took a long time to make it, but boy are we glad we did.

Our RE's office referred us to an agency in which we looked at many online profiles. We decided on one, and started signing paper work. She ended up backing out over the weekend. So we went with our next choice, we were protected by the agency. Any way, just wanted to give you guys a little insight from someone that's just gone through it.

Good luck to you all,

[Kay]

Furbaby.... it sure does look like you have had success!! Congratulations! What a joy. I love to see these hope inspiring stories. Thanks for sharing with us and blessings for a healthy happy pregnancy.
Kay

[odmom2b]

FurBaby,

Congratulations! You are a real inspiration to me...this really does work! Keep us up on how you are doing.