Inside Egg Donation: What to Expect from Your Medical Evaluation

If you are an egg donor and you have been matched with intended parents, this episode is for you. You'll learn about the genetic carrier screening, family risk assessment, and psychological evaluation that you'll undergo. If those results are favorable, you'll move on to a medical evaluation at the intended parents' clinic. Expect a two-hour visit that includes a urinalysis, an ultrasound, a blood test, and possibly a physical. You'll meet the fertility doctor and nurse coordinator, who will guide you through the medication and injection process. This episode ensures you leave with a solid understanding of the next steps and your responsibilities.

Episode Transcript

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If you are an egg donor and you have been matched with intended parents,
if you're a first-time donor, you will first complete a genetic carrier screening,
a family risk assessment, and a psychological evaluation.
If the results from all of those evaluations look good, the next step is the medical evaluation.

(01:31):
Evaluation so you will go
to the clinic that the intended parents are working with for this evaluation
you can probably expect to be there for i would say at least two hours sometimes
a little bit more a little bit less so there are various things that happen
during this medical evaluation.

(01:53):
One is a urinalysis. So this is a drug test and an STD test.
If you are on any medications, they will likely require that you bring the prescription
with you to prove that you are prescribed that medication.
You want to make sure that if you consume marijuana, You likely want to stop

(02:19):
using that probably about a month at least before the evaluation.
And of course, they're not going to want you to use that during the cycle.
Something else that you will have is an ultrasound. This does not hurt at all.
Most women, they barely feel the ultrasound probes. You don't need to be nervous. us.

(02:40):
This allows them to assess your ovaries and count your antral follicle count.
And this essentially means the amount of egg follicles that you have in each ovary.
They can also see if you have any ovarian cysts. And it's really cool to be able to...

(03:02):
Witness this ultrasound and see inside your reproductive system.
You will also have a blood test and this allows the clinic to assess your hormones,
make sure they are good and ready to start the donor cycle.
Sometimes you will also receive a physical. If you have not had a pap pap smear in the past year.

(03:27):
They oftentimes will ask you to have the pap smear with your OBGYN.
Sometimes they will allow you to have the pap smear at the medical evaluation, but not often.
And then lastly, you will meet with the fertility doctor handling your cycle,

(03:50):
ask any questions that you have, just get to know them a little bit.
And often you will also meet with the nurse coordinator who,
you know, besides your primary contact at your donor agency,
they're going to be probably the main person from the clinic that is communicating with you.
During this time, they often go over the medications that you will take,

(04:13):
show you how to do the injections, see if you have any questions.
And yeah, they just want to make sure that by the time you leave,
you have a really solid understanding of the next steps and what you are responsible for.
All right, so if you have any questions about the medical evaluation,
let me know in the comments below, or you can also email me directly at the

(04:38):
email provided in the video description.
If you can like, subscribe, comment, that would be so incredibly helpful.
That will allow me to keep providing this content for you guys. All right. Love you.
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