Do You Fit the Requirements to Donate Eggs?

Mar 28
Uncategorized

Maybe you know someone who has struggled with fertility. Perhaps it’s a gay couple who can’t have kids on their own. Or you’ve talked to someone who has donated before

In any event, here you are wondering if egg donation is for you.

There is a lot of thought and consideration on our end when we look at egg donor applications. If you feel that this is something you’d like to do, here is a breakdown of our requirements to donate eggs.

Mental Health

Though we do our best to get a feel for if donors are prepared to donate through the initial screening process, Donors will eventually be asked to undergo an extensive psychological evaluation with our license psychologist. He will do a thorough examination to make sure you are mentally prepared to donate to a family trying to have a child.

You will eventually go through a genetic assessment as well with Dr. Gina Davis from Advocate Genetics. This evaluation will gather personal and family history in regards to physical and mental illness and look for any repeating patterns. It’s essential for the donor to be completely honest during these evaluations and to share as much information as possible.

Another reason for the evaluations is to make sure that the donor fully understands any long term psychological effects of her decision. This gift of life that egg donors offer is priceless, but there are some legal and personal boundaries that must be in place. A donor must have the cognitive skills to understand this important decision fully.

Physical Health

An egg donor must be physically healthy. Some physical requirements include:

Good height/weight ratio (BMI)
Regular menstrual cycles
No birth control implants
No drug use
Must not currently be on antidepressants or ADD medication. Past use for situational events where it was needed can be discussed, and is often okay!

We also ask for an extensive self reported medical history for you and your family. We look for a history of cancer, diabetes, or any congenital health problems. It is imperative that you are completely honest on this part of the evaluation as there may be hereditary conditions that could be passed on to the baby.

Personality Traits

Aside from having an inherently wonderful personality to pass on to the baby, you must have certain traits that will help you get through the process. The egg donation process can be challenging. Here are some of the characteristics that will help you have a positive experience.

Responsible

You must be able to keep appointments, stick to a strict calendar, and follow through with treatments. There will be a team of people who are depending on you to come through for them.

Open Communicator

If you have any issues or concerns, are you able to communicate them? Do you answer texts, voice mails, and emails promptly? Communication is essential — especially when dealing the time-sensitive procedures.

Honest

We already discussed being honest on the pre-screening tests and evaluations. But honestly is also essential when dealing with the intended parents. Are you able to convey how you honestly feel about the arrangement? If the couple wants an open relationship, are you okay with that?

Brave

Giving yourself daily shots is not for the weak. However, the injectable needles are incredibly small. They are the size of a botox needle and most donors find the injectables to be incredibly easy to do.

Donors are strong women who are willing to be a little uncomfortable for the greater cause. Being a donor means being stretched beyond your comfort zone, but in return, you’ll be able to reap the reward of watching a beautiful family grow because of your donation.

Flexible

We’re not going to ask you to give up your life completely, but a little flexibility may be necessary. There will scheduled phone calls, clinical visits, and some travel may be required. We do our best to make it work with your timeline regarding school and work. However, a donor with great availability is a donor who will be matched quickly!

Selfless

If money is your only motivation, this may not be the right fit for you. And egg donor’s primary motivation is to find a couple they can help. They want to give the gift of life. A selfless mentality will be what gets you through the process.

We do our best at Elevate to ensure this will be a gratifying process for you. Take it from someone who has searched for an egg donor for years (me), it means the world to us that you are willing to offer some of your genetic material to someone like me who wants to offer a child the best life possible.

Educated

Our egg donors are well-educated. You don’t have to have a 4.0 from an Ivy League school, but some education and professional accomplishments can help. Your education and work history will show know how to work hard to achieve your goals.

Physical Traits

At our agency, we represent all women who desire to be a donor regardless of race, religion or ethnic group. We are open to any donor who is interested in applying. As long as they pass the evaluations and meet Elevate criteria, we will do our best to find you the perfect match when looking for intended parents to donate to.

Donors of Asian, East Indian, or Jewish descent are always in highest demand. Other physical traits that seem to requested frequently include height and sometimes a specific eye color. It is important to remember that you are often being considered to help a family based on physical characteristic the parents already have.

If you happen to have physical traits that are in high demand, your compensation may be higher.

The Age Factor

While we love women of all ages, we only accept donors who are between 20 and 30.

Here’s why:

If you’re younger than 20, you may not be emotionally ready to make such a big decision. It’s also a physically taxing process once it starts. The medication, injections, and clinical visits can be a lot to handle. Not to mention, your adolescent body is still growing and changing. However, in special cases we will bring on a donor of 19 and work on getting her matched for when she turns 20.

If you’re 18, see us again in a few years.

If you’re older than 30, we hate to say it, but the quality and quantity of your eggs are declining. Women can still get pregnant and have children in their 30s, but studies show that the chance of having an embryo with abnormal chromosomes raises significantly after the age of 32.

In addition to the increased rate of defects, older women do not respond to hormone treatment as well as younger women. This could result in fewer eggs at the time of retrieval. And we want to give our intended parents the best possible outcome.