Frequently Asked Questions
Recipients:
Your donor will never travel alone and will usually travel with a donor coordinator from Known Egg Donors. We either administer the injections or are present when they are being administered.
Your Known Donor will sign a contact with you and their identity will be known to you. All parties involved would have had enough time to make an informed decision before moving forward with a donor cycle. We do basic screening and interviews with our donors to ensure that we select only those donors who have the full intention of completing a cycle and are mentally prepared/mature enough to undergo the full donor cycle, motivating further why we do not work with donors younger than 20 years old.
You will have your Known Donor’s contactable information and you will be able to liaise directly with her whilst she is in Brisbane, as much or as little as both parties are comfortable with. Should both parties be comfortable and happy with spending more time together over and above the dinner and counselling sessions, this is completely your prerogative.
Going forward, it is up to both parties involved to decide how much ongoing communication they would be comfortable with in the future. It is important to keep everyone’s requests in mind, especially your Known Donor’s as she may/may not want constant contact after the donation. Most egg donors are happy with a couple of photos now and then, once the children have been born.
Most of our donors are between the ages of 22-28 years old.
A donor can donate eggs to a maximum of 6 families resulting in successful live births, this includes both known and unknown donor cycles.
Success rates are actually specific to each IVF clinic but on average each donor cycle has a success rate of between 50-70%.
This is hard to say as there are many factors that affect fertilisations rates: number of healthy mature eggs, healthy sperm and the skill of the embryologist. Most couples end up with between 5-8 embryos on day 5 of the fertilisation process.
No, not routinely. Egg donors only undergo screening for Cystic Fibrosis if the male Intending Parent has tested positive (is a confirmed carrier) during his screening.
Yes, it is the responsibility of the Intending Parents/Recipient to obtain Standard Visitors Health cover for their donor (travelling to Brisbane, Australia to complete the Donor Cycle) through the insurance provider; Bupa.
The Registration and Parent Cycle Support Management fee covers our initial emails and contact with you as well as reviewing the information that you have submitted to us. The fee serves as compensation for the time investment involved in researching and preparing the email response that includes the suitable donor profiles that match your characteristics detailed in your Intending Parent Consultancy Form. The Registration and Parent Cycle Support Management fee will be valid for the donation dates that you have indicated that you are interested in.
The Registration and Parent Cycle Support Management fee will also cover all communication and contact that you will have with Rebekah (our Parent Cycle Support Liaison). Rebekah will be there to answer all of your questions regarding the Recipient side of the Donor Cycle. Rebekah will be available to you from your very first contact with us, throughout the Donor Cycle while your Known Donor is in Brisbane, as well as supporting you and guiding you throughout your initial pregnancy up to the end of your 1st trimester.
Approx. 35 Recipient Couples have successfully been through our Known Egg Donor Program in 2016 so far. Understandably this process is a personal and private matter and most Recipients prefer to remain anonymous.
We do, however, have a handful of Recipient Couples that are contactable and would not mind sharing their journey with you.
I, Genevieve, have been in the egg donor IVF Industry for more than 5 years. I have helped over 200 couples through anonymous donor cycles and I have now done 35 Known Egg Donor cycles here in Brisbane. I myself have donated twice through QFG.
Yes, the donors are not allowed to smoke at all. A glass of wine once / twice a week is allowed while completing their donor cycles and our fertility specialist even recommends it.
If the donor is sexually active she will be required to use barrier contraception 7 days prior and 2 weeks following her donation cycle.
No, if your egg donor is under the age of 38 years old, QFG will only allow one embryo to be put back.
Egg Donor:
Most egg donors go through the process with slight to no side effects, however, reaction to the drugs varies for each individual. Some common side effects include tiredness, abdominal bloating, tender ovaries and breasts, and mood swings.
Every procedure has its risks; while donating eggs is an extremely low risk procedure, the health and safety of our egg donors is of our utmost priority.
The primary risk is a condition called Ovarian Hyper-Stimulation Syndrome (OHSS). This is very rare – less than 1% of IVF cases.
OHSS is caused when the ovaries produce too many eggs in response to the drug stimulation, i.e. the ovaries being overstimulated. This risk is greatly alleviated by ensuring that our donors are administered the correct initial dosage of medication and by ensuring that they have regular scans throughout their cycle. Doctors are therefore able to monitor the donor’s ovarian growth, and adjust the medication accordingly if necessary.
Provided there are no complications during the egg donation cycle, there should be no effect on the future fertility of the donor.
Women are born with approximately 1-2 million eggs. At puberty, that number has dwindled to 300,000 and subsequently approximately 750-1000 eggs are lost each month by a process called atresia. Each month a group of eggs enter a growth phase that will ultimately result in ovulation. Normally, your body selects only one egg (sometimes two) each cycle to ovulate and the remaining eggs from this group do not develop fully and are naturally eliminated from the body.
Fertility medications allow your body to rescue many of those eggs that would have been lost (those rescued ones are the ones you donate!) and do not affect any eggs destined to enter the growth phase in future cycles. The fertility medication has no proven long term effects and in fact a recent study has determined that egg donation has no effect on your short term future fertility.
Usually between 8-15 eggs are donated to another women during the egg donation process. Remember, these eggs would have been lost anyway.
As mentioned above, women are born with around 1-2 million eggs, and this number declines over time. But as the female body ages, the eggs produced not only begin to diminish in quantity, but especially also in quality. The combination of these factors leads to a woman’s fertility beginning to decline in her 20’s and become significantly deteriorated after the age of 35.
The chance of conception for a woman older than 43 is subsequently lower.
In summary, egg donation does not reduce the amount of eggs in the ovary or future fertility of the donor.
The donor will be asked to avoid cigarettes and alcohol during her donation cycle. She should also look after her body and well-being; partaking in light exercise (walking, etc.) and maintaining a healthy and balanced diet.
If the donor is sexually active she will be required to use barrier contraception 7 days prior and 2 weeks following her donation cycle.
