Choosing an Egg Donor
Choosing an egg donor may be one of the most difficult, but exciting choices that you ever make. With so many different factors to consider during the donor selection process, it is important to think about which qualities are most important to you. After 10 Years of working with Intended parents, and their Donors,we've put together our best advice to help you begin the donor search process.
Anonymous vs. Known Egg Donor
One of the first decisions you will have to make is if you want to work with a Known Egg Donor or an Anonymous Egg Donor. A Known donation is when the egg donor is known to you and agrees to direct contact. Some people prefer to use a known donor as it gives the child to form a relationship with their egg donor. Some drawbacks to this is that the legal guidelines for known donations are less clear. It can also be stressful defining a role for your egg donor in your child's life. An anonymous egg donor is a donor found through a donor database. This donor does not reveal their identity or have any direct contact with the intended parents. The egg donation agency or fertility clinic serves as the point of contact. Using an anonymous donor clearly provides more confidentiality and a very clear relationship definition. At Egg Helpers, the majority of our matches are anonymous. But we have so many amazing egg donors who also want to complete a known donation. Whichever you decide, we will help guide you through the egg donor process.
Physical Attributes
One of the most important donor considerations for many couples or individuals, is physical characteristics. If your family members all have blue eyes, fair skin and light hair, then finding those qualities in a donor may be important. If appearance is not a major concern, your options will be much broader. We suggest our donors supply both current and childhood photos to help intended parents when physical appearance is important.
Medical History
When reviewing donor profiles it is crucial to evaluate their medical history carefully. How does the donor's medical history combine with your own family's history? Certain factors in a donor's medical history make some donors more compatible than others.
Donor Personality
When you're looking through donor profiles try to gain a sense of the donor's personality. How the donor answers questions such as 'What is your favorite sport?' can give you more insight into her personality than whether or not she says soccer or lacrosse. We recommend choosing a donor that you can relate to or feel that you could be friends with.
Do Repeat Donors make more sense?
Repeat Donors are women who have gone through the egg donation process once or several times already. Working with a repeat donor can be reassuring for intended parents because the donor has already completed the process once before, truly understands what is involved, and responded well to the medication. Using a repeat donor over a first-time donor does not necessarily guarantee success, but it does offer some advantages.
Listen to that inner voice!
At Egg Helpers we have an extensive database filled with donors that want to help a loving couple or individual become parents. When looking at donor profile after profile, it can be easy to get caught up in finding someone that matches everything on your checklist. Try not to focus too much on one specific trait. Whether that includes height, eye color, ethnicity, university education, or additional characteristics. Parents who loosely follow their checklist and select a donor 'that feels just right' are typically the happiest in the long run. It is important to feel a connection to your donor!
How to Get Started
