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Egg donation is a process in which a fertile woman donates eggs (oocytes) to another woman to help her conceive. It is a part of assisted reproductive technology (ART). It takes a very special person to give some of her eggs to another woman whose only hope of experiencing the joys of parenthood is by using donor eggs.

Would you be the one?

We know that the egg donation process may seem intimidating. No reason! You are in good hands. From reaching to us to final egg retrieval, we make sure you have all the egg donor information you need, therefore you are as informed and empowered as possible. Egg donor’s well-being is always our main priority!

Thinking about donating your eggs? Learn below the egg donation process in Ovumia Tallinn Clinic and see how you can forever change the lives of intended parents.

Egg donation process Step 1 – Fill our Egg donor interview form

Once you submit this application, you will receive a call or email from our egg donor coordinator to let you know if you are approved to continue. In some cases, donor coordinator may also contact you to ask clarifying questions and help you complete the application. This gives also you a possibility to ask questions concerning the egg donation from the egg donor coordinator. Please contact us to fill out the form.

If everything is fine with your medical history and you want to proceed with the egg donation process, you will be asked to come into the clinic for consultation and clinical screening.

Egg donation process Step 2 – Consultation

If you are approved to continue, our egg donor coordinator will schedule an appointment for you to come into the clinic for consultation. At the appointment the egg donor coordinator will interview you again about your medical history and your family anamnesis. During this appointment you will be thoroughly explained how the egg donation process looks like. This is a very important step, to make sure that you’ve given this enough thought. We wish that everyone considering donating their eggs to have a meaningful thought, so that no one regrets their decision to donate afterwards.

Egg donation process Step 3 – Clinical screening

If everything seems to be clear with your medical history and no surprises come up, you will meet our doctor for a fertility screening. Gynecological examination, ultrasound scan and cervical cultures are being done. The doctor also tells you about the whole egg donation process, how it is done, what is the egg donation procedure, what does everything mean from the medical point of view and what are the possible risks of egg donation. If you are welcomed to continue and still willing to donate, our egg donor nurse will take your blood to screen for infectious diseases, hormone levels, sexually transmitted infections, blood type, general health and genetic diseases.

Egg donation process Step 4 – Signing the consent form and contract

If the tests are all negative, you will be accepted as an egg donor. You will sign a consent form and contract for donating your eggs in our clinic. These are official agreements between you as an egg donor and us as a fertility treatment provider. All egg donors will sign a contract that ensures they have no legal rights or responsibilities to any resulting children or embryos. Although the woman who receives the egg will not be a genetic relation of the child, legal documents will record her as the birth mother. Egg donation is anonymous in Estonia. According to our law, the couple /single female receiving donated eggs and child that can be born from that fertility treatment is not allowed to know the identity of the egg donor.

Egg donation process Step 5 – Egg donation treatment is scheduled

In the most suitable time for you, you can begin your treatment according to doctor’s plan. The doctor will now make you a treatment plan and your donor coordinator will guide you through the whole egg donation process. Before the treatment begins, you will meet your egg donor coordinator for guidance on how to take the medication. The medication used in the egg donation are hormonal injections. Your egg donor coordinator will help and support you with every step of the way.

Egg donation process Step 6 – Medications and Monitoring

The process for egg donating is the same as the early stages of IVF. The egg donation cycle will begin with a few weeks of birth control pills (to synchronize your cycle with the recipient’s). After that, you’ll start hormone treatment to boost the number of eggs your body produces. This means injecting hormones to your belly for about 10-12 days. You will be monitored with ultrasound scans about 2-3 times during the treatment to assess the follicle size.

Egg donation process Step 7 – The Egg Retrieval

The egg retrieval is done at the end of the monitoring period and is performed under ultrasound guidance with a thin needle through the base of the vagina. During the procedure, you will receive a light general anesthetic, given intravenously. After the egg collection you will be monitored at the clinic for a couple of hours. No heavy exercise is recommended for the next few days after egg collection. If necessary, you will receive a sick leave certificate for 1-3 days. Once the retrieval is performed, you will receive compensation for your time, travel and efforts.

Egg donation process Step 8 – What happens to your donated eggs?

There are two choices. Your eggs can either be frozen to be used later in a recipient’s fertility treatment or the eggs can be used fresh. With this option the collected eggs are being fertilized with the recipient partner’s sperm and cultured as embryos. Best looking embryo is being transferred to the recipient woman’s womb and other embryos are frozen for the possible later use. The recipient can take the pregnancy test 2 weeks after her embryo transfer.

According to Estonian law, the donors are not allowed to be informed about the results of their donations and up to 6 children can be born from the same donor eggs.

Donating eggs has been described as one of the most powerful and rewarding decisions a woman could make and we hope you choose to become an egg donor in Ovumia Tallinn Clinic.

Any questions about egg donation process? Please contact our donor coordinators for more information:

Maire Karu

Donor coordinator, anesthetist
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