Fresh Donor IVF Cycle

Step 1: Initial Consultation with Advanced Fertility Care Physicians

The first step in the donor egg IVF process is an initial consultation with Advanced Fertility Care Physicians. At that meeting, the doctor will determine what elements of testing will be required and review the entire process. Following that meeting, an additional meeting with one of our Donor Coordinators will be scheduled (often at the same visit) in order to provide further details about the program and coordinate the required screening tests, donor selection, and stimulation process.

Step 2: Selection of a Donor

Step 3: Initial Screening Tests

Initial screening for the recipient couple involves a uterine evaluation (office hysteroscopy with trial transfer), routine and FDA (US Food & Drug Administration) mandated blood testing, cervical cultures, and a Pap’s Smear (performed through your Ob/Gyn). Routine mammograms are required for women over age 40 and those over 45 yrs are required to have an EKG, and if recommended by their primary care physician, a chest X-ray, and fasting metabolic panel. The male evaluation includes a semen analysis and FDA mandated blood testing for venereal diseases.

A psychological consultation, performed by one of our recommended psychologists or social workers, will be required for all recipient couples. The purpose of the psychological interview is to mainly facilitate an open dialogue between the intended mother and father as to the approach of dealing with peers, family, and friends as a result of using a donor egg in addition to facilitating discussions on how the child will be raised and if, when and how that child will learn of how they were conceived. This is crucial to be discussed prior to the pregnancy in order for any issues to be worked out. Once initial screening is complete, testing of the uterine response to hormone will be accomplished through a prep (mock) cycle. This will be performed using one of three estrogen preparation and ultrasound and blood hormone monitoring. Only in very rare circumstances will endometrial sampling be performed.

Step 4: Stimulation and Coordination of Cycles

Once the initial screening and donor selection process is completed, coordinated synchronization of the recipient and donor cycles is planned through the use of oral contraceptive pills and/or Lupron. The remainder of the stimulation protocol will be managed on an individual basis as determined by the doctor and involve the use of daily Lupron injections and estrogen stimulation, usually in the form of transdermal (skin) patches.

On the day of the donor’s egg retrieval, the eggs will be fertilized either with conventional insemination or with the ICSI procedure depending on the results of the initial semen analysis. All donor sperm samples will undergo ICSI for fertilization. Progesterone injections will also start in order to prime the endometrium for implantation of the embryo and maintain the endometrial thickness. Our embryologists will notify the couples of fertilization and embryo development on a daily basis. The majority of patients will then undergo a Day 5 blastocyst transfer into the uterine cavity with either one or two embryos being transferred. The moment of truth comes 10 to 12 days after the transfer when we perform the pregnancy test.

How long does it take to get pregnant with Donor Egg IVF?

At Advanced Fertility Care we understand your desire to have a child quickly. Our program is designed to efficiently and quickly complete all your testing and take you through treatment without compromising quality of care. In general, depending on the timing of the intended mother’s menstrual cycle in relation to the timing of initial consultation, all of the recipient couples’ testing can be completed within two to four weeks from initial consultation. After that, the only other factor that affects how quickly pregnancy can be achieved is donor selection. Once the couple has electronically selected their 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice donors on our secure website, we determine whether the donor is already on hormonal suppression or when she is expecting her next menstrual cycle to begin. Once this is determined, both the donor and recipient stimulation cycles can be coordinated for the next available IVF cycle.

Given our high success rates with donor egg IVF, the quickest we have been able to achieve a positive pregnancy test for a recipient couple using donor egg IVF has been six weeks from the time of initial consultation, but on average, we estimate approximately two to three months from initial consultation to positive pregnancy test.