Egg Donation

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My wife donated her eggs to an old school friend of mine who had already had several rounds of unsuccessful IVF, they only got a few good eggs, only three started reproducing, only one was good enough to implant, they put it in and..against the odds my friend successfully had a child using my wifes egg and her husbands sperm.

Now I see pics of the girl regularly on facebook updates and immediately think "theres my wifes other baby", especially because she looks like baby photos of my wife looking back at me. In fact she looks more like my wife as a baby than our own kids
Its a little weird, but really nice, and they are excellent parents.

I always have to remind myself, that is my friends child, but she came from my wife. We have told our daughter all about it and to think of her as a cousin, although genetically they are half sisters of course. The child knows already in her limited way as she is about 3 now.

What do you think of egg donation?

It's going to be different for everybody. Not for me to judge.

What matters, in this instance, is how the four of YOU feel about it.

I think it's a nice idea. I wouldn't mind doing something like that for someone that was desperate to conceive, it would feel so rewarding. Though at the same time I would feel kind of weird because that's technically my child, I would request for everything to be anonymous so I don't see the child and get jealous.

I wanted to sell mine but now I'm too old and it sounded like it was too much trouble to do it. You had to do things like inject yourself with hormones daily so they could get more eggs.

I think it's great. I would do it in a New York minute if I weren't 44.

You also have to have a minor operation, under sedation, so the eggs can be retrieved. This is isn't entirely painless or risk free, neither is the hormone treatment.

I've been told that my only option for getting pregnant using IVF is with donor eggs. I'm not menopausal and still have eggs and regular periods, but I don't respond well to the IVF drugs and got no eggs on my last attempt. As we already have a child, we decided against this. I couldn't help but feel there would be a difference between them (our daughter is genetically mine and my husband's and the other child would be genetically his only). If push came to shove, we'd choose to adopt instead. If we didn't have a child already, I think we'd consider the egg donor option.

Interesting. I could tell people who tell me that I've failed the biological imperative to shut up. It would also ally my own insecurity about failing the biological imperative.

Thats right you just reminded me of all that, it was quite a palaver, two different types of stuff to inject at different times, and yeah the harvesting was a bit painful, they put her under some anaesthetic it was a general of some sort, that made her dopey but left her concious.
Theres a lot of people wanting eggs these days as people are having kids older, and well I guess also of course IVF is a possibility whereas it wasn't once.

That is great to do for a friend! I am undecided, but someday I may need an egg donor. It would be amazing to be a close friend who can be involved in the child's life some.

I also considered selling eggs (only reason I didn't is I didn't have a degree, and I'm now "too old")

I think it's a wonderful thing to help a friend in that way, or even a stranger. Kudos to both of you for being so OK with it! A lot of people would feel strange about that. Personally I don't understand familial bonds, to me a person is who they are, regardless of blood (that goes both ways; adopted children are no less family members, and blood ties alone don't mean you have to like any of your family)

Keep being awesome!

I think there should be some financial incentive for egg and sperm doners in Australia and New Zealand. Not a wage as such like the system in the US, but just enough to cover some of the suffering the doners have to go through. Similiar to the payments someone receives if they do a medical trial. I think this would intice a few more women to donate annoynmously. I know a few women who want to but because they will be financially out of pocket as well as suffer health wise, it isn't an option.

We got some type of expenses, I seem to be remember it being a not insignificant sum, but in the hundreds range not the thousands, whatever was the maximum permissible under the law.

Saw the Bubba on the weekend too, man she's cute.
There's no ASD evident in her, maybe my sons Autism came from me (I believe its genetic).

I don't think I'm what people are looking for in terms of an egg donor, as much as I would absolutely love to do it. I don't want to have children of my own, at least not for the foreseeable future, so I'd like to help another couple who wants to. But I think my genetics would be too much for people to look past. It's quite a kind and noble thing to do, as it's no small task to undertake. There's also the emotional side, which is always strange for people - after all, even though you're not acting as that child's parent, it's still got your genetic material there.

It's wonderful that you and your wife were able to help out a couple like that!