When embarking on a fertility journey, most people hope that falling pregnant will happen as naturally as falling in love . Unfortunately, some women struggle to conceive using their own eggs. Thankfully due to scientific advancements and the generosity of others, donor eggs are an option that once embraced can achieve a successful pregnancy and a happy and nurtured baby. The gift of life is a wonderful incentive for young women who selflessly donate their eggs to help these women have their family.
We chat to Zoe, our newest wonderful egg donor about her reasons and her experience with Harley Street Fertility Clinic. She is 22 married, and lives in Norwich with her husband.
The decision to donate eggs
Zoe explains how a show on TV made her think of the egg donation process. She admits to googling ‘egg donation’ and Harley Street Fertility provided enough information to pique her interest. Zoe was a total novice and hadn’t appreciated the process of donating eggs existed.
The distance to the London clinic wasn’t a deterrent for Zoe, although she admits to being ‘slightly worried at first. I wasn’t sure it would take months or just a few days.’ Zoe approached her consultation with little information about egg donation, but was put at ease in her first zoom consultation by ‘the very helpful Dr Venkat’, and went away with answers to all her questions.
The initial tests
The initial stage of the egg donation process was to assess Zoe’s suitability for egg donation, via some simple scans and tests. ‘If I had a low egg count, I wouldn’t have been able to donate, as per the clinic’s policy. I found out the shape of my uterus, my egg count, all very useful to know if I want to have kids one day,’ says Zoe. ‘I was reassured that donating my current reserve would not hinder my chances in the future.’
The process
Zoe says she started the process being apprehensive. ‘I had some wobbly days, thinking how it will affect my work life, how coming off the pill would affect my hormones etc’.
Counselling
A compulsory part of egg donation consists of counselling before treatment, to discuss the potential consequences. ‘The main subject was talking about any potential children conceived thanks to my donation. It was interesting to think about and helped me to properly process the reality of egg donation, which put me at ease.’ The fact that the children can contact her when they are 18 doesn’t scare Zoe. ‘It would be interesting and exciting to meet these new people, but if they don’t want to, that’s fine. I am just happy that I could give some amazing parents the chance to bring their kids into the world.’
Stimulation
As the first stage of treatment is triggering the growth of the follicles for egg collection, Zoe needed to inject herself to stimulate her ovaries. ‘Learning to do the injections was fun and pretty simple. The nurses at the clinic give you all the guidance you need. I was very proud of myself for being able to inject myself,’ Zoe smiles. There were 18 eggs collected, 15 of which were of viable quality.
Harley Street team
‘Amazing, reassuring, helpful’ are the words that came to Zoe when reflecting on the Clinic team. She describes herself as a very inquisitive person, with many questions, but never felt a burden. ‘Everyone was happy to provide answers at any time’. Zoe continues, ‘I had so many questions about how each step would affect my body, and it’s lovely to take ownership of the process’. Zoe ‘s view is that other women should not be afraid of asking questions.
A letter to future children
After signing the contract one Friday afternoon, Zoe was invited to write a personal note to the future children conceived using her donated eggs. ‘If, before starting the whole process I was worried about being tired, the pressure I’d be putting on my work life and so on, the experience of having to write this note was the perfect antidote and calmed me down,’ admitted Zoe, who at that time had an epiphany moment, about the importance of her donation. ‘I was thinking, Wow, this is amazing. A new life could be brought into this world thanks to this little sacrifice I’m making, it could change someone’s life’.
Zoe doesn’t plan to have her own children for a few years, but she is considering another egg donation at some point in the future.
Zoe says it was a ‘little sacrifice’ to donate her eggs. A gesture that will change someone’s life for ever in the most amazing way.
Thanking Zoe for taking the time to tell us her story. We, and hopeful mothers, are so grateful to Zoe for sharing her story.
If you would like to consider ‘the gift of life’ and become an egg donor, please contact us today for a no-obligation chat.
