FOR THE RECIPIENT
HOW A SHARED CYCLE WORKS
The ideal Recipient is someone who has been told she needs an egg donor due to repeated IVF failures, age or FSH issues, but cannot afford to move forward because of the ever-rising price of a fresh donor cycle.
If you believe you would make a good Recipient, please contact us for a questionnaire (Can we put the CONTACT US link here). After filling it out, you can request a password to view our online profiles. We offer an extensive medical and personal profile of the 'Donating Woman' -- much like the donor agencies do of their donors -- as well as childhood photos. Adult photos are not used to protect the donor's identity and privacy.
In order to preserve our high standards, all of our Donating Women will have already had to pass a medical screening and evaluation by the RE at the participating clinic. She will have been approved as a good candidate for stimulation and egg retrieval. This is an important thing for you to knowÉit will eliminate a lot of the stress involved if you were using an egg donor agency. Most egg donor agencies do not have their donors 'medically evaluated and approved' prior to signing with their agencies. It is not uncommon to hear a story about a young donor going in for her medical evaluation (which the Recipient pays for regardless of outcome) and finding out that her FSH level is too high, or that she does not have a good resting follicle count. This will not happen with a shared cycle... the Donating Woman has already been approved and accepted into the program.
Once you sign our contract and pay our agency fee, we will inform the Donating Woman that she's been matched. Next, you will be put in touch with the clinic to schedule a consultation and evaluation with the Donating Woman's RE for yourself and your spouse (or partner). After your consult and medical evaluation, we will then coordinate psychological evaluations, any additional medical/blood work screenings and legal contracts. When these are complete, we will act as a liaison with the clinic to help coordinate both yours and the Donating Woman's cycles. Your Donating Woman will start taking various medications, including stimulating hormones to produce eggs. She will be monitored closely for egg growth and estrogen levels. Similarly, you, as the Recipient, will be taking hormones to make sure that your uterus (or your surrogate's if you are using one) will be ready to receive your embryos at transfer time. On retrieval day, your partner's (or sperm donor's) sperm will be used to fertilize your half of the retrieved eggs. The embryos will grow and be ready for transfer in three days. Your Donating Woman will have her transfer around the same time, but anonymity will be carefully maintained.
We strive to bring you the best professional services in a highly personalized manner. We've had first-hand experience dealing with infertility, IVF, donor cycles, medications, contracts and psychological evaluations...and now we can put our experience to work and help you!