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So you’ve decided you want to help build families. Fantastic.
But what comes next? And how long can you expect the egg donation process to take?
You probably know already there will be screenings, appointments, and medications to take. But when it comes to the actual timeline, many donors are left in the dark.
At Elevate, we value you and we value the commitment you’re making to help grow families. As one of our elite egg donors, you’ll never be left wondering what’s next on the horizon. We’re here to walk this journey with you.
Let’s take this step by step.
Your Egg Donation Timeline
Step 1: Matching
When we bring you on as an egg donor, the first step is listing you in our online database. We want to showcase your strengths to our intended parents and communicate a message about who you are as a person. Our case managers work to put together a beautiful profile for you that does just this.
Although match times vary, many times it takes only a few weeks for intended parents to find their perfect donor—you, of course!
Step 2: Screenings
As a donor, your next step is to go through several screenings to ensure you’re a great fit for egg donation. Your psychological and genetic screening can be completed on your schedule within 1 week.
Once we receive clearance for you, the clinic your intended parent(s) have chosen will reach out to you to schedule your physical screening appointment. We like to call this your “donor day” and typically it will be scheduled by week 2 or 3.
Step 3: Legal Clearance
After ensuring you’re an excellent candidate for egg donation through screenings, we move forward with legal clearance between you and your intended parents. Your attorney, who represents only your interests, will schedule a time to go through the contract with you and make any necessary adjustments. This can usually be completed by week 3 or 4.
Step 4: Birth Control and Local Monitoring
After we have the legal go-ahead, if you aren’t already, you’ll be put on birth control pills to control your cycle timing and keep your body in a non-ovulatory state. In 2-3 weeks we will schedule a baseline monitoring appointment at a clinic local to you for bloodwork and an ultrasound. If everything looks good, you’re on to hormones!
Step 4: Hormone Injections
You will start hormone injections at home and continue for approximately 10 days total. Around day 3 or 4, you will travel back to the intended parent’s clinic, attend several monitoring appointments, and remain there until your egg retrieval date.
Step 5: Egg Retrieval
And finally, the moment we’ve all been waiting for! Your retrieval appointment will take up a few hours of your morning, but the procedure itself takes less than 20 minutes. We’ll encourage you to put your feet off and relax the rest of the day—what an amazing thing you’ve just done. As long as you’re feeling great, we’ll schedule your flight home for the very next day.
Get Started with Egg Donation at Elevate
After matching, most cycles are completed within 6 to 8 weeks total.
The timeline for egg donation cycles can be subject to many less-than perfectly predictable factors. Everyone’s body is different, and every journey is unique!
But at Elevate, you can rest assured that no matter what turn your journey takes, we’re here to walk it with you.