Have you been thinking about donating eggs and want to know what the process of being an egg donor looks like? As a top-rated egg donor agency, we have had the opportunity to work closely with many young women on their journey to becoming egg donors for the first time. Drawing on this experience, we have put together a comprehensive step-by-step guide for anyone interested in donating eggs with Donor Nexus. If you have additional questions, contact us and we will be glad to discuss the egg donation steps with you. We are also proud to share first-hand egg donor experiences to give you a deeper understanding of the process.

Step-by-Step Guide to Donating Eggs with Donor Nexus

Step 1: Fill Out Our Preliminary Application

The first step to donating eggs with Donor Nexus is to fill out our preliminary egg donor application.

Step 2: Egg Donor Questionnaire and Submit Photos

Once Donor Nexus reviews your application, you will receive an email that includes an egg donor questionnaire to fill out and a detailed overview of the program. The questionnaire provides insight for prospective intended parents on the type of person you are. It is very important to fill out the egg donor questionnaire in great detail. This is your opportunity to show off your personality!

Along with the completed questionnaire, you will submit 12-15 photos of yourself throughout your lifetime. Intended parents like to see photos of the donor as an infant, child, teenager, and as an adult. Any photos from graduation or of extracurricular activities you participate in are encouraged. Please also include at least one full-body photo of yourself now. Sharing photos of your family and siblings is great too! Keep in mind that these photos will be listed on your online profile so make sure they are appropriate (no Vegas photos please!). We will review your completed egg donor questionnaire to ensure you are a proper candidate for donating eggs.

Step 4: Acceptance Into Our Egg Donor Program

If you are accepted into our program, we will upload your profile onto our password-protected database as well as contact you to schedule a brief phone call, Zoom call or in-person meeting (ideally) to answer your questions and review the process and logistics of donating eggs. Please note that all identifiable information will be removed from your profile, such as your full name, birth date, home address, etc. 

Once you have been accepted into the program and your profile has been uploaded to our database, Intended Parents can begin reviewing your profile. When an Intended Parent comes to Donor Nexus, we help them find an egg donor based on the characteristics they are looking for. Usually, it is characteristics similar to the intended mother, such as ethnicity, hair color, eye color, etc. We then provide egg donor profiles to the Intended Parents to review based on their specific criteria. We do not have an exact timeframe of how long it will take for you to be matched. It could be several months or over a year. It is important that the match is perfect for the Intended Parents. On occasion, we may contact you for additional information not listed on your profile. A specific Intended Parent may want additional photos of you as a child or to know more about your family or something that you wrote about on your profile. The more prompt you are the more likely the specific Intended Parent will choose you.

Step 5: Selection by an Intended Parent

It is a privilege to donate eggs so we hope you are excited to embark on this journey.

Upon selection, we will contact you to share the good news! At this point, we will begin the prescreen evaluations necessary for all egg donors to complete. Prescreen evaluations consist of a medical evaluation, a psychological evaluation, a genetic evaluation, and a legal consultation.

» Egg Donation Screening Process

1. Medical Evaluation: This will be completed at the Intended Parent’s designated fertility clinic on days 1, 2, or 3 of your next menstrual cycle. The evaluation includes a blood panel that screens for any illegal substances, or STDs, and ensures you are not a carrier of a genetic disease. It also includes a vaginal ultrasound to determine your resting follicle count along with a physical to ensure you are healthy. You will also meet with a nurse coordinator to review the next steps and receive injection training so that you will know how to inject your medication when the time comes.

2. Psychological Evaluation: This is done primarily to make sure that you are emotionally ready to perform what is required as a donor, and also to get insight into your personality. You will complete an interview with the psychologist as well as complete an online 300-point personality assessment.

3. Genetic Evaluation (if required by designated fertility clinic): You will speak with a genetic counselor to discuss your family history of any illnesses or diseases.

4. Legal Consultation: This consultation will give you the opportunity to speak with an attorney to review your donor contract so you understand your rights and responsibilities as an egg donor.

» Egg Donation Prescreening Process Timeline

The prescreening process can take up to 3 months to complete. 

Step 6: The Cycle Begins – Medication Protocol and Cycle Timeline

Once we are ready to proceed with the cycle, your clinic coordinator will provide you with cycle dates and a medication instruction sheet. Donor Nexus will provide you with a schedule for your monitoring appointments that you attend while taking medication. You will also receive a shipment of medications and needles for the injections. Your clinic coordinator will schedule an in-person appointment or phone call to do injection teaching. You may also watch instructional videos via Freedom MedTeach.

Egg donors will take medications for approximately 2 weeks and will have approximately 6 monitoring appointments. Monitoring appointments consist of an ultrasound and blood draw to monitor your response to the medications.

The medication protocol usually includes a combination of stimulation medications. Most likely you will be given an FSH (either Gonal F, Follistim), Menopur, and an antagonist (Ganirelix or Cetrotide). These hormone medications are stimulating the ovaries to produce an adequate number of eggs for retrieval. The stimulation medications are taken by self-injection once a day in the lower abdomen area for approximately 10 days.

While taking medications, you will visit the clinic about every other day for approximately 10 days. You are required to be seen between the hours of 7:00 am and 9:30 am so we can get same-day results. The appointments are brief and consist of an ultrasound and blood draw to determine how you are responding to the stimulation medications. The doctor will review the results of the ultrasound and blood work and determine whether there needs to be a change in the amount of stimulation medications you are on. This is a very crucial part to the process. Appointments must be completed at a certain time of the day so we can receive same-day results to ensure your medication protocol is at a safe dose for you! It is your responsibility to schedule appointments in advance and to arrive at appointments on time.

The last injection is taken at the end of the 10-day timeframe when your hormones have reached the appropriate level. The physician will instruct you to take the “trigger” shot. This injection releases the eggs from the side of the egg-containing structures, called follicles. The trigger shot is taken ~34 hours prior to the egg retrieval.

Step 7: The Egg Retrieval

The egg retrieval procedure will be completed at the clinic. The procedure itself is no more than 20 – 30 minutes. You will be required to come in earlier to sign consents and to get ready for the procedure. You will be under monitored anesthesia care. You will be closely monitored by the physician and anesthesiologist throughout the procedure. Once the procedure is done, you will stay in the recovery room for approximately 1 hour to allow your vitals to return to normal. You are required to bring a companion along with you to drive you home and supervise you for 24 hours. You will be on bed rest for the remainder of the day. Most egg donors are able to return to school or work the following day.

Step 8: Egg Donor Compensation and Reimbursement

Within 5 – 7 days of completing the egg retrieval, you will receive your compensation and reimbursement checks in the mail. Egg donors are reimbursed for birth control pills taken during the cycle and gas and mileage to and from the monitoring clinic.