I am an Egg Donor, and Proud of It [PART 2]

(Click to read Part 1)

A lot has changed in the 3 years since I started donating. The first donation required a month of shots before retrieval; while my fourth, and most recent, donation only took 10 days! With all the changes, I decided I needed to create a second post about this beautiful opportunity.

The biggest change was the medicine order and how much. Donation now starts with higher doses of Gonal (300 IUs*). For 6 days, this is the routine.

Measure out 300 IUs, administer shot, and done.

On the 7th day a second shot is added. My round last year introduced Cetrotide at 0.25 mg. This turned out to be an issue for me. My skin became swollen, hot, and painful. I was not a fan of the reaction, I’ll tell you that!

Luckily, there is another option! The coordinator was able to switch me to Ganirelix in a dose of 250 mcgs and there was no more reaction. The double shots continue for days 7, 8, and 9.

On the 10th day it goes back to one shot and this time it’s a trigger shot. Just as before, this super dose of Lupron (4 mg) triggers the eggs to release. They retrieve the eggs 36 hours later, so the timing is important. Mine was to be administered at exactly 9pm.

Both rounds were successes, with 15 eggs retrieved last year and 8 eggs this year. I don’t know if I’ll be asked again, but I hope I will. They haven’t told me I’ve reached my limit yet and I plan to continue until they do.

As these years have passed, I have grown more and more passionate about egg donation. It has become so dear to my heart. In fact, last year when I got a tattoo to represent my family, I added a twinkle for each egg donation.

Now I get to add another 🙂

Egg donation has become a part of my identity, it’s hard to explain the connection I feel to my anonymous recipients and the children I pray have been (and will be) born. What I can say is that I’m grateful I am able to share this with others, to help them know the joy of parenthood that I experience every day. God is good.

 

*For those, like me, who like to know exactly what everything means here is what the abbreviations stand for: IU = International Unit, mg = milligram, mcg = microgram