Donating your eggs

metaoblivia

Would you?
I'm considering it. It pays very well, and I think it would be nice to help a couple that was struggling with infertility. There are definitely some drawbacks though. If a couple chooses you, you go through a roughly 8 week period of medical/fertility treatments, during which time you cannot engage in sexual activity. It's a good thing I don't have a boyfriend, otherwise I can see that being a problem.

MJOR

I'd do it. It's a nice thing to do. I didn't realise you got paid for it though that is a bonus. I'm not sure my OH would bethrilled at eight weeks with no nookie thoough!

Clare Bear

Are all those fertility/medical treatments 100% safe? I think it's a great thing to do for someone but I wouldn't want to put myself in a position where it might not be good for me. If it was my sister or a very close friend who couldn't have children and I was approached maybe I would do it but otherwise no.

xzanti

what sort of money are we talking about here?

northdubgal

What type of tests would be involved?

wyndham

metaoblivia wrote: »

Would you?
It pays very well, ................

Jars a bit with your thread title. How about "Selling Your Eggs"?

Crumble Froo

i think it's only something i'd consider if it was to help somebody i knew personally.

or was ridiculously broke... but for the most part, only if it was to help someone i knew.

littlebug

It sounds like a good thing to do to help people who have infertility problems but in reality I couldn't bear the thought of someone else having my baby. I couldn't do it

Stheno

littlebug wrote: »

It sounds like a good thing to do to help people who have infertility problems but in reality I couldn't bear the thought of someone else having my baby. I couldn't do it

+1 not that I want children, but I think I'd always wonder about the child/person that came about through my donating eggs to a couple.

You'd have to be very sure that it's not something that you'd come to regret in the future.

Crumble Froo

honestly, i have no actual idea what's involved. what is involved?

littlebug

look at www.giftoflife.ie
There's no mention of payment, just travel expenses etc.

Scarinae

Clare Bear wrote: »

Are all those fertility/medical treatments 100% safe? I think it's a great thing to do for someone but I wouldn't want to put myself in a position where it might not be good for me. If it was my sister or a very close friend who couldn't have children and I was approached maybe I would do it but otherwise no.

I agree with this. Imagine helping someone else have a baby, and making yourself sterile in the process? I would consider it for my sister or friend, but not for a stranger

brianthebard

Can any potential children that arise from this exchange track down the egg donor when they reach 18? I don't know much about sperm donations but afaik it used to be anonymous and now its not, at least in the UK? I'll have to do some googling. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4397249.stm
When I was younger it seemed like an easy way to make money and I had a detachment from the idea of any kids that would result from sperm donation, but now I feel a lot less eager about it.

Zaph

littlebug wrote: »

look at www.giftoflife.ie
There's no mention of payment, just travel expenses etc.

metaoblivia is in the States, the set up may be different there. For example, you can get paid for blood donations in some places in America, but certainly not here.

metaoblivia

Yes, Zaph is correct, I'm in the States. Here, anonymous egg donation pays anywhere from $7,000 to $10,000 per donation. But you have to go through extensive medical testing, which includes genetic testing, blood tests, and psychological tests before donating. You also have to have a university degree and be in good shape, have no hereditary diseases, can't be adopted, etc..
If a recipient family chooses you as their donor, you go through 8 weeks of fertility treatments (which is why there's no sex), and towards the end it requires a daily doctor's visit. They also align your cycle with the recipient's cycle. Then they do a procedure to harvest the eggs.
It doesn't have unbearable side effects; they usually mimick PMS. It also shouldn't interefere with your ability to have children.
Here's a link with more info:
http://assistedfertility.com/donor/egg-donor-program.shtml?gclid=CKXVyPjb8pcCFQt4Hgod-kT5Dg

4zn76tysfajdxp

metaoblivia wrote: »

It also shouldn't interefere with your ability to have children.

So you (the kindly benefactor) wont be sterile as a result of the process?

metaoblivia

Cynthia Tiny Cashier wrote: »

So you (the kindly benefactor) wont be sterile as a result of the process?

Nope. Sterility is not a side effect.

brianthebard

Why are you interested in it meta, is it just a monetary transaction?

littlebug

Ah right that explains it.
Apart from the screening isn't it pretty much the same process any woman who is undergoing IVF goes through? That's a pretty hefty payment for an altruistic act alright but I guess if the screening process is thorough and there's an element of counselling then it's a good way of giving infertile couples a chance to have a baby. I still couldn't do it myself though.

4zn76tysfajdxp

metaoblivia wrote: »

Nope. Sterility is not a side effect.

*Impressed high-pitched grunt*

If I had a diary (or a pen) I'd wrote that down as the something new I learned today.



Now I really see no reason for women not to do it tbh.

metaoblivia

brianthebard wrote: »

Why are you interested in it meta, is it just a monetary transaction?

Well the money certainly isn't bad, and I could use a bit of money. Being American, I have thousands of dollars worth of student loans I'd like to pay off, and this would help. It's a way to help out a family who wants a baby and make some money. It's a win win. I know some people would like for it to be 100% altruistic, but that's not the way my society - or most societies - work.

Zaph

Is it something you can do more than once?

metaoblivia

Yes, you can do it multiple times. They only harvest somewhere from 5-15 eggs each time. But there is an age limit, usually around 32.

brianthebard

metaoblivia wrote: »

Well the money certainly isn't bad, and I could use a bit of money. Being American, I have thousands of dollars worth of student loans I'd like to pay off, and this would help. It's a way to help out a family who wants a baby and make some money. It's a win win. I know some people would like for it to be 100% altruistic, but that's not the way my society - or most societies - work.

I see. Its just the more I think about the whole fertility industry the more it bothers me for some reason. For a start I feel the world is overpopulated as it is without men fathering dozens of children through sperm donations for instance. (edit: I see from the above post that the same potential is there in egg donations). Also it seems almost like a one night stand where you are almost 100% certain you got the other person pregnant-having a child out there that is, to all intents and purposes yours, I'm not sure how that would play with one's mind over the decades. I know that a lot of people can detach themselves from that, they must be able to or the industry wouldn't exist, but still it seems very-I can only say unnatural.

metaoblivia

I can see where some people would feel that way. It's definitely not for everyone. I hear you on the over-population thing. But unfortunately, the US government at least, isn't so great at matching abandoned children with adoptive parents. For example, the state of Arkansas has more children up for adoption than it knows what to do with. But it recently denied stable, loving homosexual couples to right to adopt and did the same with stable, loving single parent homes. Children who need homes are being denied and people who actually want to be parents are being denied. Now I don't know what to do about the children, but if it turns out I can help a couple who will provide a loving, stable home to a child, then I'm all for it. My thinking is, I'm not mother material right now, and I don't know that I ever will be. But I think I was handed a pretty good genetic card, and if someone else could get some use out of it, then that's great.

brianthebard

I see what you mean about the adoption and personally feel its a much better option, but shouldn't we therefore seek to not offer alternatives so that people can continue to have children while orphans continue to suffer? My thinking here (and its quite fuzzy cause I feel sick *ahem*) is that by continuing to allow non fertile couples to have children, the issue of adoption will remain off the table. On the other hand your genetic argument is quite good, we could create a very good looking, intelligent super race! :P (well when I say we, I don't mean with my genes obviously)

metaoblivia

I definitely think that the adoption thing needs to sorted. But unless the government sees that homosexual couples and single parents can provide just as good of a home as those pesky heterosexuals, I don't think we'll see change. And in order to do that, they need to have children that can't be taken away from them.
And as an American, I can tell you the thing my country needs the most is circulating the better genes (slightly tongue in cheek here - just slighty! ), and more importantly, giving people who have the desire and unconditional love to raise a child the opportunity to do so.

allabouteve

metaoblivia wrote: »

I can see where some people would feel that way. It's definitely not for everyone. I hear you on the over-population thing. But unfortunately, the US government at least, isn't so great at matching abandoned children with adoptive parents. For example, the state of Arkansas has more children up for adoption than it knows what to do with. But it recently denied stable, loving homosexual couples to right to adopt and did the same with stable, loving single parent homes. Children who need homes are being denied and people who actually want to be parents are being denied. Now I don't know what to do about the children, but if it turns out I can help a couple who will provide a loving, stable home to a child, then I'm all for it. My thinking is, I'm not mother material right now, and I don't know that I ever will be. But I think I was handed a pretty good genetic card, and if someone else could get some use out of it, then that's great.

Putting more children into the world won't solve the problem of children in care and foster homes.

You might not be mother material now, but if/when you do become a mother, knowing a child of yours is out there without any imput in their lives from you, might start to hurt in places you can't imagine now.

spinandscribble

i agree with allaboveve.

As much as i see the value in donating, is the child essentially yours? i mean do the have your DNA? I couldn't do it if that was the case. I'd always worry about them.

i work with children that need homes and while my kids wouldn't be the pick of the bunch (slightly mentally handicappied/behaviourable problems), they need homes and if some of them had got homes younger things wouldn't have got so bad that they'd be where they are.

Zaph

allabouteve wrote: »

Putting more children into the world won't solve the problem of children in care and foster homes.

You might not be mother material now, but if/when you do become a mother, knowing a child of yours is out there without any imput in their lives from you, might start to hurt in places you can't imagine now.

I assume that the procedure is done similar to IVF, which doesn't guarantee pregnancy, so therefore you wouldn't know for certain whether or not there was a child of your's conceived.

CathyMoran

We thought that we could not have kids for various medical reasons so were starting looking down getting an egg donation route (we also want to adopt). I think that it is a wonderful thing to do for a childless couple. I know that we would have been eternally greatful. Luckily, I have cousins that were willing to undergo the procedure for me but I would still worry for the lady giving us the eggs.