There are many emotional and psychological factors associated with the use of third party reproduction – factors that may impact you, your relationships, and even your future child(ren). For that reason, it is required that all patients utilizing any of our donor programs meet with our fertility counselor.  Your partner, if applicable, is also required to be present for the appointment. An annual appointment with our counselor is required while attempting pregnancy with donor egg (including frozen embryo transfers). Our counseling services are always free of charge.

After your case management fee is paid, a nurse consultation is required to review the medical aspects of the program, required testing, the donor screening process, and how we match you with a donor. If you have a partner, this person is strongly encouraged to attend the nurse consultation. The cost of the nurse consult is covered by your deposit.

Once you have completed the above steps and pre-procedure testing, the donor coordinator will give you a password to access our donor profiles online. These donors will be categorized as either a “fresh” match (the egg donor will begin the cycle preparation and have the egg retrieval once selected by a recipient) or a “frozen” match (the donors’ eggs are already frozen and available in our egg bank). All current recipients will have passwords for this list, so if you decide you like a particular donor, it is in your best interest to reserve that donor as soon as you are 100% sure. If you are interested in a donor but want to continue looking at other profiles, you can select a donor as your first or second choice but they still remain available for other recipients to select. Upon assigning you your password that grants you access to the donor profiles, we will review this process in greater detail. Once a donor is selected, the donor coordinator will coordinate the timing of the procedure. All remaining fees are due at this time. If you would like to give your chosen donor a card or small gift, we will be happy to pass it on to her. Cards/items need to remain unsealed/unwrapped so they can be inspected for anonymity. Please talk to our donor coordinators if you have questions.

A matched egg recipient cycle typically takes 2 menstrual cycles to complete. If you are not having menstrual cycles, you may still proceed in approximately the same time frame. The egg donor takes fertility medications to encourage the growth of multiple eggs. During this time, the recipient female also takes medications to coordinate her cycle with the egg donor and to prepare the uterine lining for a pregnancy. The donor eggs are retrieved and fertilized with the recipient partner’s sperm or donor sperm on the same day. If you are using frozen eggs, the timing is based on your menstrual cycle, which we are able to control with hormones. The eggs will be thawed at a specific time and fertilized with the recipient partner’s sperm or donor sperm on that same day. After fertilization of the eggs (creating embryos), 1-2 embryos are transferred to the female recipient.

A blood pregnancy test (bHCG level) is completed approximately two weeks after the transfer. If positive, the blood test is repeated 2-4 days following the first test. An OB ultrasound is typically scheduled at 6 weeks gestational age to confirm the viability of the pregnancy. Following a second OB ultrasound at approximately 8 weeks gestational age, you will be referred back to the provider who will continue your prenatal care (e.g. your OB/GYN). You will continue on medications for the entire first trimester until the placenta is fully developed.

If you have additional questions about donor selection or the medical aspects of using an egg donor, please contact our donor coordinators at (616) 988-4602. If you have billing questions or concerns, please contact Amy at (616) 988-2229, ext. 130.

Click to learn more about the process of how we select our egg donors.