egg donor while nursing

[tulsidas]

i dont know who can answer this question, or if anyone has done this before so i am going to post this question a few places:


my dear sister has been labled infertile after doing all the tests and methods out there. so she has asked me about egg donation, and of corse i want to do it to help her.

my situation is that my DD just turned one year and NURSES ALL OF THE TIME. i have not gotten her to eat anything except a cracker and i dont think she has ever missed a nursing.

when you donate an egg you are put onto fertiliy drugs which are the same hormone that your body already produces and the DR. does not think it would harm my DD... ANY THOUGHTS??
his concern is the general anestia i would need to take.

she is thinking about doing this in 3 months so i really want my DD to EAT. plus i am having a hard time keeping on weight and i would like to have some of that nutrition that my DD loves to suck.

any advice????
any stories????

[tessie]

It would be unlikely that donating whilst still breastfeeding would be allowed. Firstly, your child may be exposed to the meds and secondly bf may alter your hormone levels and affect your response to the drugs.

However a general anaesthetic is not necessary, usually the retrieval is done with painkilling meds and (from what I can remember) something like valium.

[bjunkie]

I can't imagine....

any RE who would allow ed while nursing a very dependent (on mostly nursing for most of their nutrition) 1 yr old.

You don't just take "a little" hormones like clomid, as they super stim ED. ED have like 10 or 20 eggs from a donation cycle. Clomid usually a few. It is very costly process with ed, and they want to get as many quality and quantity in eggs as possible. Prolactin levels could interfere with it too.

Please don't think I am sounding neg about ED.... I think it is great actually ; ) have even helped a relative be a ed for someone I knew dealing with infertility issues... it worked ; )

Personally you might want to wait close to around your daughter's 2nd b-day(?) at least or when she is done nursing. I have heard some RE's won't take a ed who is nursing at all. If you are under 30yrs old, no need to rush this (the 20's being the ideal age for egg donation-closer to 25 is even better, but under 30 or 32 ok--you probably know this ; ) and not get a good response cuz of nursing (or effecting your milk supply). Getting a good response by waiting might be important too for you cuz then your sister(?) would have siblings on ice ; ) and not have to either do it all over again to get a good response or do it a 2nd time for siblings if the first wasn't enough for freezing for siblings....

Just giving my 2cents ; )

Good Luck to You and Your Sister!
bjunkie

[californiajenn]

Egg donor here

Ironically, I just finished my third donation on Wednesday. :-)

No, you may not do an ED cycle while nursing. The drugs are NOT anything you'd want in you baby's body. RE's like you to stop nursing a few months before you start injections, too.

Each RE has their own drug protocol but it's all basically the same thing. You will start of birth control to sync your cycle's. Next, you will start Lupron injections. Lupron puts you in a menapausal state so you eggs don't release. Then, you will start your a combo of stimulation meds, which go my the names Follistim,Gonal-F, Menopure, Repronex. Finally, you'll take an HCG injection. All but the HCG in a sub-q shot, like a diabetic needle, very tiny. The HCG is a couple inches long but it doesn't hurt at all. I've done a sub-q HCG but I don't think it's the norm.

As far as age goes, the younger the better. Most RE's have 32 as the absolute cut off, but many will not accept donors older than 30.

You will not go under a conventional general anaesthetic for the procedure, it's a twilight sleep. The retreival itself only takes 15-20 minutes.

Your sister may want to start this process in three months but I would expect it to take a little longer from beginning to end. They have to find an RE and check their egg donor stats (if they haven't all ready) and go through psych evaluation. You have to be screened and have a psych evaluation, too. If all of that works, the RE will sync your cycles for at least a month, if not two and THEN the actual cycle will start. This is all assuming that your sis is aware and prepared for the cost.

One thing you need to think about is how would you feel if she didn't get pregnant from your eggs? How would she feel? If it were my sister, I'd do it but knowing that things might be uncomfortable for a while if things didn't go as planned.

Side effects: Think major PMS. After the retreival, I'm a little worse because of the sudden drop in hormones. My fiance and I have agreed that we don't make any major decisions while I'm on a cycle. ;-)

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.