A woman who donates her eggs so that someone else can experience the lifelong joy of parenthood is incredibly generous. Without a doubt, this gift has to be one of the most meaningful you could ever give, but it does come with some risks that you should be aware of. These tips will help you weigh the pros and cons of donating eggs to make the right decision and prepare you for what’s ahead.
Weigh the Pros and Cons of Donating Eggs With These 3 Tips
1. Learn Everything You Can Ahead of Time
To be comfortable with your decision, it’s important that you educate yourself on the egg donation process. If possible, ask the fertility clinic for referrals so that you can speak to other women who have donated their eggs. You must thoroughly think this choice through before making your decision.
2. Ask Questions
The process of donating your eggs is a distinctly unique experience, and it’s entirely normal to have any number of questions. You’ve got to feel completely free to ask as many questions as necessary so that you know what to expect and can avoid any unnecessary stress or worries.
3. Keep a Journal to Help You Process the Decision
As with most things in life, there are pros and cons to donating eggs, and they vary from woman to woman. There may be several different factors leading you in this direction, so it might be helpful to write them down. Doing so might help you better understand your motivation for making such a sacrifice.
Donating your eggs can be tremendously rewarding, knowing that your gift is helping others start a family. Yes, you may be generously compensated, but if that is your main motivator, the entire experience may be more difficult than you realize.
Write down all your thoughts in your journal as you consider this decision. It’s important that you recognize that the pros of becoming an egg donor must outweigh the cons before you agree to the procedure. If they do and you decide to move forward, these reasons will help you throughout the process.
4. Make Sure You’re in Good Health
Donating your eggs will require that you undergo a complex cycle of medication so that you are able to produce an excess number of healthy and viable eggs. Your health and well-being during this process are of the utmost importance for your sake as well as the baby’s. Make sure you are taking good care of yourself physically and that your emotional needs are being met as well.
To be adequately prepared both mentally and physically, you need to do whatever you can to feel your very best. You need to be eating healthily, exercising, meditating, spending time with friends and family, and doing whatever it takes to avoid stress.
5. Remain Calm
From the beginning to the end of the process, you will want to remain calm when asking all the questions you need to. It would be unrealistic to expect every aspect of the egg donation process to be positive for both yourself and the intended parent(s). It would be unwise to go into this experience with blinders on when it comes to any potential risks. To ensure that you know what to expect, do sufficient research so that you are fully apprised of everything this process entails. Doing so will keep you as calm as possible throughout the process.
Get the Support You Need
When undergoing egg donation, you’re going to need some additional support, both physically and emotionally. Talk to your doctor about your feelings, get your questions answered, keep your support system close, and ask for the help you need.
Donating your eggs can be extremely rewarding, but it’s also very complicated. Heeding these tips should help make the experience a little easier, more positive, and in the end, successful.
This guest post was written by MySurrogateMom, the first independent surrogacy community in the US and Canada dedicated to connecting intended parents, surrogates, and egg donors.
