What Is Egg Donation Like?

What is Egg Donation like from an emotional perspective?

Egg donation is an amazing experience. That is because egg donation really helps someone else. It really makes a difference.

Donating eggs help to create families. Egg donation is a blessing for many couples who, without a donation, may never have their dream of a family become a reality.

Thousands of women around the world struggle to fall pregnant with their own eggs, which are of poor quality for various reasons. Egg donation allows you to join a select group of donors, who make it possible for another woman, who is longing to have a child, to become pregnant.

Egg donations are amazing gifts from women that value compassion, hope and the miracle of life.

The women in this select group of donors say that their egg donation, as a selfless act of giving to another, in turn gives them forever satisfaction that they have made a real difference.

What is Egg Donation like from a practical perspective?

Egg donation is also a medical procedure. In fact, over the last four decades, egg donation has become a routine treatment at fertility clinics around the world.

By joining the Cape Fertility Egg Donor Program, you are assured that you are donating eggs at a leading South African fertility clinic, where you can expect dedicated one-on-one attention to make your egg donation process a positive experience.

We have been leading the way in egg donation since 1993 and for the last 26 years we have worked with thousands of egg donors in a friendly, relaxed and caring environment at our advanced, purpose-built facilities in the beautiful city of Cape Town. (If you don’t live in Cape Town, you can still donate – all your travel and accommodation arrangements will be explained to you and all your expenses will be covered.)

Our team at Cape Fertility is with you, supporting you, throughout your entire egg donation process, as well as after your egg donation is completed.

At Cape Fertility, egg donation is streamlined into a 7-step process, but you only have to be concerned about the first step.

Step 1

Your journey starts with applying to become an egg donor by simply filling in your contact details here, or contacting our Egg Donor Fairy God Mother, Linda, on 066 22 55 003 or linda@capefertility.co.za. Your information is 100% confidential and will under no circumstances be made available to anybody else.

Linda has many years of experience supporting egg donors and a wealth of information to share, and will gladly answer your questions and guide you further in giving the gift of a lifetime.

Step 2

Linda will assist you to complete a confidential medical questionnaire to determine if you are suitable for egg donation from a medical perspective.

Step 3

If your medical questionnaire confirms your suitability to donate eggs, Linda will assist you in completing an Egg Donor Profile, which is added to Cape Fertility’s world-class and secure database of egg donors from which moms-to-be can select their match.

Rest assured that your privacy and anonymity are guaranteed with us. Your profile is anonymous and confidential. Only your physical characteristics, medical background, education and hobbies, as well as childhood photos are shared – never names, personal details or adult photos – so can be sure your donation always remains anonymous.

Step 4

Since there are fewer egg donors than couples who need eggs to achieve their dream of becoming pregnant, you have a very good chance of being selected to donate soon, if not immediately.
Once your profile has been selected by a recipient couple, Linda will begin to make the arrangements for you to visit us at Cape Fertility and to meet your entire egg donation support team.

Step 5

During a 2-hour appointment, you will meet one of our fertility specialists and our psychologist. You will also have a detailed medical examination, including routine investigations and a psychological assessment. The full egg donation procedure will be explained to you and you will have an opportunity to ask any questions you may have and to discuss any concerns.

Step 6

The next step is to complete an egg donation cycle.

During your egg donation cycle, you will be cared for by a specialist medical team of fertility specialists, qualified nursing sisters, a resident psychologist and a dedicated egg donor co-ordinator, who have been caring for egg donors’ emotional and medical needs for many years and have safely completed thousands of treatments.

Our Egg Donor Fairy Godmother, Linda, and our team are there for you 24/7 and will take care of all your needs.

The egg donation cycle starts with fertility injections for 10-12 days to grow the follicles (eggs). You will need to attend about four doctor’s appointments over the two-week period for regular ultrasounds to check the development of the eggs and to ensure that the medication you are taking is responding well with your body, to safeguard your health.

Most donors experience no side effects at all while on this medication. Some donors may experience PMS type symptoms like bloating, moodiness or pelvic discomfort. Any side effects will disappear when you stop taking the medication.

Egg retrieval day will require that you take a full day off work or your daily activities and arrangements for someone to take you home after the procedure. The egg donation (retrieval) is performed by one of our fertility specialist doctors under ultrasound guidance using a vaginal ultrasound and a fine needle. We use a mild general anaesthetic and you will sleep during the procedure which takes about 30 minutes. You will not experience any pain during the procedure – there is no cutting, stitches or scarring.

If you want to know exactly what happens during this procedure, when the eggs are retrieved from the ovaries, click here to read our article … How eggs are harvested from ovaries.

After the procedure, you will stay in recovery for about 1 hour before going home. Some donors experience some discomfort similar to that experienced with a period, for which normal pain relief medication can be taken.

Before you go home, you receive the maximum permissible compensation allowable in South Africa under the National Guidelines from the South African Society for Reproductive Medicine (SASREG), which is currently R8000 per donation cycle. This maximum compensation is paid by us, directly to you, on the day of and after your egg donation.

Linda and our team will remain in constant contact with you. About 5 to 14 days later, you will have a period.

Step 7

After your egg donation experience, Linda and our team will remain in contact with you. You can decide whether you would like to remain available for another donation. By law you may donate up to six times. Many donors donate more than once because they find the joy of helping to fulfil another’s dream such a rewarding experience.

Should you decide to donate again, the maximum permissible compensation allowable in South Africa is paid to you for every egg donation cycle.

What others say egg donation is like…

Perhaps the very best way to find out what egg donation is like is to read what other women who have completed the egg donation process say about it.

For example, this is what one of our Cape Fertility Egg Donors wrote earlier this year. February 2020)

I write this email with thanks and gratitude. Thank you for the kindness and generosity you have shown me while I was donating. It was my first time donating eggs and I must say it has was the best decision I took.

I love helping people and it brings joy to my heart. I never thought I’d be one of the people who could help a couple that has been in need for a long time. I am grateful for the support from each and everyone I encountered before and after the donation. I feel as healthy as ever and happy. I would recommend every other woman to help in this way. Thank you again.

You can read many more testimonials about what egg donation is like here…

You only have to take the first step

Egg donations from caring and selfless healthy young women give other women struggling with infertility an opportunity to become pregnant with their own babies.

If you are willing to donate eggs to help another woman fulfil her dream of having her own baby, you only need to take first step which is as simple as contacting us.

Simply fill in your contact details here, or contact our Egg Donor Fairy God Mother, Linda, on 066 22 55 003 or linda@capefertility.co.za. Your information is 100% confidential and will under no circumstances be made available to anybody else.