Our very own Case Manager wraps up her final thoughts after going through her very own egg donation cycle.
WHY I DONATE
About 6 days after my retrieval I felt 100% back to normal and fit in my skinny jeans again. The 3-4 pounds that I gained since starting the medications melted away as the bloating went away. It’s just fluid retention and coconut water really helps. Twelve days later I started my period, just as the clinic mentioned. The clinic told me that I could start birth control pills with my period and I did so. I’m feeling wonderful.
Since the retrieval, I’ve thought about my recipients often. I’ve been anxiously awaiting the pregnancy results as I’m sure they have been as well. Yesterday I found out that they had a positive pregnancy result and I felt an overwhelming sense of calm and joy. It’s such a miracle that all of the people involved (doctor, nurses, attorneys, me, etc.) coupled with modern science can create such a little miracle and change someone’s life. I can only imagine how my recipients have felt all this time. With all of their time, emotion and finances invested in IVF cycles, only to have failed. How they must have felt when they first were told that they needed to start looking at other means of conception. How defeated and powerless they must have felt when they couldn’t do it alone. Then their search for a donor ensued. There must have been so many choices and at long last, they found their perfect donor: me. They were then investing all of their time, emotion and finances in me; I would do anything that was asked of me to make this process as seamless as possible. The time, commitment, medication, appointments, retrieval and side effects were all worth it to hear that they had a successful pregnancy result.
This process has been so rewarding for me. Sure, there were a few days where I wanted to lay in bed all day and watch movies because I felt very uncomfortable (after the retrieval) but my temporary discomfort has lead to a life changing for someone else. Even though I will probably never meet my recipients, I know that I’ve touched their lives forever.