Donating your eggs is an incredibly selfless act that can be very rewarding, both emotionally and financially. Of course, if you’re thinking about donating eggs, then odds are you’re wondering how long the process will take. After all, you’ll be donating your time in addition to your eggs during the donation process.
Fortunately, the egg donation process doesn’t take that long. Moreover, if you decide to make subsequent egg donations following your first donation, it will take even less time.
That being said, the following is a breakdown of the general egg donation timeline.
How Long Is The Egg Donation Process?
The first time you donate your eggs, the process will take between 2 and 3 months. However,
the majority of this time is spent screening donor applicants to ensure they are healthy and eligible to donate. It actually only takes 2 to 4 weeks to prepare the body for the egg retrieval procedure, and only a day or two to recover from the procedure.
The Pre-Screening Application (3 to 5 Minutes)
The first step in the egg donation process is to fill out a pre-screening application online. This application will ask for basic personal and medical information.
The point of the application is to determine whether you qualify for egg donation based on our general requirements (which includes age, health, and BMI). Completing this questionnaire will take approximately 3-5 minutes.
Comprehensive Candidate Screening (1 to 2 Months)
If you pass this initial screening, you’ll be asked to complete a more comprehensive application. This application will ask for more detailed information about your personal medical history, family health history, lifestyle, and more. Most applicants are able to fill out our overall donor application within 60 to 90 minutes.
After you’ve submitted the overall donor application, one of our staff members will reach out to you to schedule an initial consultation. This is a brief consultation (usually lasting no more than 15 to 20 minutes) in which we will ask you some questions about your medical history and explain the egg donation process in greater detail.
We’ll also answer any questions that you may have about egg donation at this stage. If you decide that you’d like to move forward with egg donation after the initial consultation, we will begin a more comprehensive screening process.
During this process, we will provide legal consultation, perform various medical screenings and tests (including infectious disease testing, genetic screenings, toxicology screenings, and hormonal level testing), complete multiple physical examinations, and conduct genetic and psychological counseling and screenings.
At Eos Conception, we make sure to thoroughly evaluate all of our potential egg donors to ensure they are physically and mentally healthy enough to donate. We also want to make sure the eggs from the donation process are as healthy as possible. It’s why this part of the egg donation process is by far the most time-consuming.
The evaluation process will generally take us between 1 and 2 months to complete. However, it’s worth noting that if you decide to donate again, the evaluation process will be significantly shorter.
Preparation For Ovarian Stimulation (2 to 3 Weeks)
To prepare for ovarian stimulation, we will give you contraceptive pills that will alter your natural hormone levels. This will allow us to more easily control the development of the eggs during ovarian stimulation.
You will begin taking these contraceptive pills on the third day of your period so that we can more easily track your hormone levels and menstrual cycle.
If you’re not already taking contraceptive pills, this process may take 2 to 3 weeks before ovarian stimulation can occur. If you’re already taking contraceptive pills, this process may be much shorter (although we may ask you to switch to a preferred pill brand which may prolong the timeline slightly).
Premedication Health Screening
Before the hormone injection process can begin, you will have to undergo a comprehensive health screening at our clinic. During this screening, you will have your blood drawn to screen for infectious diseases, hormonal levels, toxicology levels, and genetic diseases.
You will also undergo a transvaginal ultrasound to evaluate your ovarian health. All of this is to ensure that you are healthy enough to begin the egg donation process.
Ovarian Stimulation And Monitoring (10 Days)
Once you’ve been fully screened, you will begin to administer hormone medication via injections. This injectable medication is designed to stimulate your ovaries to mature multiple eggs.
You will be given specific instructions on how to self-administer the injections. Injections will begin on the second day of your menstrual cycle and will continue for around 10 days. You will also need to visit our clinic multiple times during this process so that we can monitor your progress.
In a usual menstrual cycle, a woman will only produce one mature egg per month. However, the administered medication for ovarian stimulation will encourage the ovaries to stimulate up to 15 mature eggs in a single cycle.
Egg Retrieval (20 Minutes)
Once your eggs have matured, they will need to be retrieved for donation. The actual egg retrieval procedure will be scheduled once we have determined that the eggs are ready to be collected.
You’ll be under general anesthesia for the procedure, which involves the doctor inserting a needle into the ovaries. The fluid surrounding the eggs in the follicles will then be aspirated (drawn out), and the eggs will be collected.
The egg retrieval procedure usually takes about 20 minutes, and you’ll be able to go home the same day. However, you’ll need someone to drive you home since the anesthesia can make it unsafe to operate a vehicle after the procedure.
Follow-Up Care And Recovery After Egg Donation (2 Days)
After the egg retrieval procedure, you will be given specific instructions for your recovery. It’s important to follow these instructions carefully to ensure a smooth and successful recovery.
You’ll be asked to take it easy for the rest of the day and avoid any strenuous activity.
It is normal to experience some cramping and bloating after the procedure, but these symptoms are usually mild and temporary. The majority of donors will be able to return to their normal activities within a day or two.
We will schedule a follow-up appointment about a week after the egg retrieval procedure. During this appointment, we will check to make sure that you are healing properly and answer any questions that you may have.
We’ll Support You Every Step Of The Way
In total, the entire egg donation process can take up to three months for first-time egg donors.However, once you have gone through the process, subsequent donation cycles will be much shorter since we will already have all of your information on file.
It’s also worth repeating that much of this time is spent screening our candidates – and the actual personal time that you’ll be asked to give over the course of the egg donation process is even less.
Additionally, if you choose to donate again, the timeline will be much shorter since you won’t have to go through the entire screening process again. Just keep in mind that you’ll have to wait two months after you’ve completed your first egg donation cycle to donate again.
With that said, the egg donation is a very rewarding experience, and we are here to support you every step of the way.
Learn more about donating your eggs here .
