Patients who are considering egg donation are those who either have no or few eggs, or who based on previous failed treatments have eggs that are of poor quality. Most commonly this is due to premature menopause, menopause or advanced maternal age. In these instances using donor eggs from a young, healthy donor can be used to greatly enhance their ability to become pregnant.
Why IVF New Jersey?
- Experience and Success. IVF New Jersey has performed over 2000 egg donation procedures since 1992. We routinely have the highest success rates on the East Coast for Egg Donation cycles. Please click here for those statistics.
- Personalized Service. IVF New Jersey has 3 clinical coordinators dedicated to making your experience as efficient, comfortable and successful as possible.
- Dr. Helane Rosenberg, Matching Coordinator, has worked with IVF NJ since 1990. She is passionately and personally committed to the Egg Donor-Recipient Program at IVF NJ, and with good reason. In 1992 she was the first successful egg recipient at IVF NJ and in the state of New Jersey. Her twins, Nathaniel and Allegra, were born in 1993. Inspired by her own joyful outcome, Dr. Rosenberg has matched almost 2,000 egg donor-recipient cycles, which have resulted in an exceptionally high live birth rate.
- Convenience. Egg recipients living out of state or out of the country are only required to make 2 visits to our New Jersey location. We are happy to arrange local monitoring for you, making your medical treatment as convenient as possible. For those living in New York City we have made special arrangements for monitoring at a facility in Manhattan.
- Timeliness. Our wait time to find you a suitable donor is usually less than 3 months.
- Affordability. We offer various financial options to help make your fertility treatment more affordable. Please click here to see the different programs we offer.
At IVF New Jersey we offer multiple donor options to choose from when deciding how to build your family. We offer our own donor pool with candidates that have already been fully screened from a reproductive, genetic, psychological and medical perspective. We also offer the option of sharing a donor between two recipients to decrease the costs of using donor eggs. If you are interested in using a donor from an outside agency click here for a list of agencies we have successfully worked with in the past. Occasionally, patients decide to work with a known donor who could be a friend or family member.
If you decide to pursue egg donation at IVF New Jersey the steps involved in the process are:
1. Scheduling a Recipient Orientation.
2. Reviewing donor profiles until you select the donor that is right for you.
3. Synchronizing your cycle with the donor’s and preparing your uterus for embryo implantation.
4. Once pregnant you will be monitored throughout your first trimester before we transition you to your Obstetrician’s care.
We look forward to working with you and providing you with outstanding personalized care to help fulfill your family building dream.
For more detailed information about the egg donation process please review the following:
History
The use of egg donation began in the early 1980’s. The first successful egg donation in a human was reported in 1984 in Australia, unfortunately this pregnancy did not go to term. In 1986, the first successful term delivery through the use of egg donation was reported. IVF New Jersey has performed over 2000 egg donation procedures since 1992. We routinely have the highest success rates on the East Coast for Egg Donation cycles. Although we are well regarded for our expertise and outstanding success rates, we are most proud of the personalized care we give to all of our patients and donors.
Background
Egg donation is a procedure where a fertile woman’s eggs are removed, fertilized with sperm, and then implanted into the infertile woman or a gestational carrier. Egg donation is needed for patients who either have no or few eggs, or who based on previous failed treatments have eggs that are of poor quality. Most commonly this is due to premature menopause, menopause or advanced maternal age. Egg donation is one of the most successful techniques for making infertile women pregnant.
Requirements
Egg recipients must be healthy, under age 52 and have a normal uterus. For recipients with significant uterine abnormalities a gestational carrier may also be considered. Click her for more information about using a gestational carrier. All patients over 40 must have a recent mammogram and those patients over 45 are required to have an EKG, Chest X-ray and obtain medical clearance for fertility treatment and pregnancy.
Our Program
Our egg donation program is known for its high success rates, quick matching time, personalized care, and for the diversity of options we offer patients.
1. Our success rates are among the highest in the country.
2. We generally match recipients to a suitable donor within three months. We provide childhood pictures on all donors and adult photos of donors who consent.
3. Recipients are assigned a personal clinical coordinator to provide specialized personal care throughout the entire process.
4. We offer multiple options for patients to choose the donor that best suits them. In addition to our anonymous donor pool patients can choose a known donor or a donor from an agency. We also offer multiple financial options including sharing the cost of an egg donor cycle between two recipients. Click here to see our financial options.
The Recipient Orientation Appointment
These appointments are scheduled on Mondays and generally last 4-5 hours. At this appointment you will meet with a physician, a psychologist, the matching coordinator, a clinical coordinator and a financial counselor.
Our Donor Pool
Donors at IVF New Jersey are young women between the ages of 21-31 who have been psychologically, genetically and medically screened. They are a diverse group of women from college students to stay at home mothers. Although they are diverse they share the common goal of wanting to help an infertile couple conceive. We are constantly recruiting donors via internet, newspaper and billboard advertising. Our best advertising comes from donors themselves and we often are referred friends and family members of previous donors.
Donor Screening
When you are matched with a donor from our anonymous donor pool they are not presented to you until they have completed a full screening. This screening includes:
1. Hormone testing and baseline ultrasound. Day 3 hormone testing includes Estradiol, Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH), Lutenizing Hormone (LH), and Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH). The baseline ultrasound includes an antral follicle count. These are done to assess a donor’s fertility and ability to respond to stimulating medications.
2. Genetic evaluation. Donors speak to a genetic counselor by phone to review their family’s medical history and to determine if any additional genetic testing is necessary based on a donor’s ethnicity or medical history.
3. Psychological evaluation. Donors take a standardized psychological test to test for psychological pathology and also meet with a mental health professional to determine their suitability.
4. Medical screening. Donors undergo a complete physical and also have blood work and cultures to check for infectious disease, genetic disease and general well being. Infectious disease testing is also completed within 30 days of the donor’s egg retrieval per Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guideline.
The Matching Process
At your recipient orientation you will inform our Matching Coordinator what you are looking for in a donor and based on that information you will start to receive donor profiles for review. These profiles include physical characteristics, medical information, personal information as well as a childhood and possibly an adult picture of the donor. Once you have selected a donor you will be contacted with the next steps in the process.
Recipient Medical Screening:
Patient
1. Blood work
2. Vaginal Cultures
3. Uterine Evaluation
4. Practice Transfer
Partner
- Blood work
- Genetic Testing
- Semen Analysis and Freezing of Sperm Sample
Cycle Synchronization
Is the process of synchronizing the recipient and donor’s cycle so that the recipient’s uterus is properly prepared to allow for implantation of the embryos at transfer. This is generally accomplished by initially placing both the recipient and donor on birth control pills. Once both parties are on the pill an appropriate schedule can be formulated. A recipient usually takes 4 main medications to prepare for the embryo transfer. These include:
1. The birth control pill that is used to coordinate the recipient and donor cycles.
2. Lupron (Leuprolide Acetate) which is given subcutaneously daily to suppress a recipient’s natural hormonal cycle and egg development and prevent ovulation.
3. Delestrogen which is given intramuscularly twice weekly to increase estradiol levels and increase the thickness of the uterine lining.
4. Progestersone which is given intramuscularly daily to cause the cellular changes needed in the uterus for implantation to occur and to support the pregnancy.
For recipients that no longer get menstrual periods the birth control pill and Lupron will not be needed.
While recipients are preparing for the transfer, donors will be required to take stimulating medications daily for approximately 10 days to increase the number of eggs they produce and thus increase the chance of pregnancy for the recipient.
Egg Retrieval
Once the donor’s blood work and ultrasound indicate that the eggs are mature she will be instructed to take medication which will prepare her eggs for retrieval 36 hours after it is administered. At this point recipients will be notified and given a time for their partner to produce a sperm sample on the day of the retrieval. The retrieval is an outpatient, same day surgical procedure to retrieve the eggs. Intravenous anesthesia is used to assure the donor is comfortable throughout the 30 minute procedure. During the retrieval, an ultrasound probe is introduced into the donor’s vagina and an aspirating needle is used to retrieve the mature eggs from the follicles (egg sacs). These mature eggs are then placed in a culture dish in preparation for fertilization with the sperm source. Recipients will receive a phone call from the embryologist the day after the retrieval to inform them of how many eggs were retrieved and how many fertilized.
Transfer
Transfers are performed 3 or 5 days after the egg retrieval. The transfer is an office procedure that only takes a few minutes to perform and does not require anesthesia. It is a procedure whereby the physician gently deposits the embryos in the uterus via a small catheter that is threaded through the cervix. Usually 2 embryos are transferred into the uterus although patients may select to undergo single embryo transfer. The recipient will remain at rest for 30 minutes after which she will return home and advised to rest until the next morning.
Post Transfer
Recipients continue to receive Delestrogen and progesterone hormones until two weeks after the egg retrieval. At that time a pregnancy test will be performed and if positive the hormones will be continued. Pregnancies are monitored initially with blood tests and then with weekly ultrasounds. Recipients are weaned off the hormones and referred to their obstetricians near the end of the first trimester.
Embryo Cryopreservation
Extra embryos that are of high quality but not transferred can be frozen to be used at a later date. The recipient will undergo the same hormone treatment used during a fresh embryo transfer.
Egg Donor Agencies
We have our own pool of anonymous Egg Donors here at IVF New Jersey. However, if you wish to use an agency donor, or are looking for an ethnicity that is difficult to match, please refer to our list of Donor Agencies below. These are companies that we have had success working with in the past. We invite you to do your own research to determine the best fit for you.
Alternative Conceptions
www.alternativeconceptions.com
An Eggceptional Match
A Perfect Match
Asian Egg Donation
Conceptual Options
The Donor Source
Fertility Miracles
Loving Donation
Nationwide Egg Donation
NY Lifespring
Prospective Families
SEEDS
Tiny Treasures