Hey may I also share my personal experience? Well I’m going to only because it’s how we learn. I felt like a fraud walking through the fertility clinic doors. I had + pregnancy tests. I never wanted to see one again. I was one of the girls with great numbers and ranges. But we were there for Recurrent Pregnancy Loss. IVF was our only option if we wanted biological children without loss through spontaneous pregnancy. Wow! Writing that all out was heavy. I haven’t thought about it in years that way. Thank you spending the time researching and learning and sharing. We all only know what we know. xx
As a woman in her 40s, I’m still learning all about how everything in me works. I wish I had good eggs. I have ovaries with eggs that have nowhere to go! lol
I assumed there are a bunch of eggs that have already been donated that you can pull from. Like a sperm bank...they are sitting somewhere and you choose the profile you want. You said you'd need to find a donor that could possibly give you all the kids you want. Is there not a place where a woman has donated like 10 eggs and you can "claim" those?
No egg bank. Someone would need to pay to keep those eggs frozen (such as a woman who has frozen her eggs when younger for later use). That price could be built into the process I guess but it’s a technical process and utilizing space for eggs that may never be claimed isn’t a cost effective option. A frozen unfertilized egg is also less viable than a frozen embryo - so an egg bank may give the couple 10 eggs but there’s no way of knowing if they’d result in a pregnancy for various reasons. With the amount of money and the emotional toll you want your odds as strong as possible so a fresh cycle is your strongest option. The couple will select a donor in advance and when ready to start she will be put on the pill so they can control the timing. She will then go through a series of shots to stimulate her egg development and is monitored for when the eggs are ready for retrieval. Their gestational carrier will also be synced, so their cycles align and she is “ready” for implantation if they do a fresh transfer. So the eggs are specifically for their use to fertilize. After retrieval the eggs will be fertilized and monitored for growth. Those that show success will either be implanted or frozen for future use (by the couple only). It is a very involved process with syncing cycles, stimulation and retrieval - which is why the donors are compensated quite well for going through the process. There is loss of eggs through each phase of the process. Some eggs won’t fertilize, some won’t start to grow (cell division), some may not be genetically viable (they are graded and lower grade are not likely or as likely to be viable), some may not grow as well after being frozen to be implanted, some may not implant. So a strong donor that may have 20+ eggs retrieved might only have half (or less) viable by the time they get to the implantation stage/freezing stage. It’s a lot (probably more than you wanted to know). :)
I learned new things today! Also, PCOS was literally renamed just this last week as Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS)
Hey may I also share my personal experience? Well I’m going to only because it’s how we learn. I felt like a fraud walking through the fertility clinic doors. I had + pregnancy tests. I never wanted to see one again. I was one of the girls with great numbers and ranges. But we were there for Recurrent Pregnancy Loss. IVF was our only option if we wanted biological children without loss through spontaneous pregnancy. Wow! Writing that all out was heavy. I haven’t thought about it in years that way. Thank you spending the time researching and learning and sharing. We all only know what we know. xx
As a woman in her 40s, I’m still learning all about how everything in me works. I wish I had good eggs. I have ovaries with eggs that have nowhere to go! lol
This is so interesting! I’ve always been curious about the details of ivf. Thanks for sharing!
I assumed there are a bunch of eggs that have already been donated that you can pull from. Like a sperm bank...they are sitting somewhere and you choose the profile you want. You said you'd need to find a donor that could possibly give you all the kids you want. Is there not a place where a woman has donated like 10 eggs and you can "claim" those?
No egg bank. Someone would need to pay to keep those eggs frozen (such as a woman who has frozen her eggs when younger for later use). That price could be built into the process I guess but it’s a technical process and utilizing space for eggs that may never be claimed isn’t a cost effective option. A frozen unfertilized egg is also less viable than a frozen embryo - so an egg bank may give the couple 10 eggs but there’s no way of knowing if they’d result in a pregnancy for various reasons. With the amount of money and the emotional toll you want your odds as strong as possible so a fresh cycle is your strongest option. The couple will select a donor in advance and when ready to start she will be put on the pill so they can control the timing. She will then go through a series of shots to stimulate her egg development and is monitored for when the eggs are ready for retrieval. Their gestational carrier will also be synced, so their cycles align and she is “ready” for implantation if they do a fresh transfer. So the eggs are specifically for their use to fertilize. After retrieval the eggs will be fertilized and monitored for growth. Those that show success will either be implanted or frozen for future use (by the couple only). It is a very involved process with syncing cycles, stimulation and retrieval - which is why the donors are compensated quite well for going through the process. There is loss of eggs through each phase of the process. Some eggs won’t fertilize, some won’t start to grow (cell division), some may not be genetically viable (they are graded and lower grade are not likely or as likely to be viable), some may not grow as well after being frozen to be implanted, some may not implant. So a strong donor that may have 20+ eggs retrieved might only have half (or less) viable by the time they get to the implantation stage/freezing stage. It’s a lot (probably more than you wanted to know). :)
I appreciate the clarification, thanks!