Family Creation’s donor Jill has completed the egg donation process. Below, she talks about the procedure and about her experience as an egg donor.
My Experience as an Egg Donor – part III
I was so nervous the day of the egg retrieval. I was just lying in the bed at the surgery center completely overwhelmed with nerves. The nurses asked me several questions and I did a urine test. They took a little more blood and then put in an IV. The best part was the wonderful warm blankets they gave me. Those are like heaven. The doctor came over briefly to talk to me and then the anesthesiologist came over and gave my IV an injection of meds. He said “You’ll feel a tingling in your arm and then you’ll get sleepy.” They started to wheel me towards the surgery room. I thought “Oh, wow, I do feel a tingling in my…” and before I could finish the thought I was sound asleep.
I woke up feeling as though I’d just woken up from a deep sleep. I was a little groggy, but it mostly felt like they hadn’t even done anything. I went home about 20 minutes after I woke up. It was that quick, that easy.
I slept most of the day. I felt a tiny bit of pain, so I took the painkillers they gave me and put a warm compress on my abdomen and slept. That evening I had some soup and ginger ale and then slept some more. The next day I felt pretty good. I even went out for brunch. And then I slept the rest of the day.
Today is four days after the egg retrieval and I feel perfectly fine. I’m not allowed to exercise though or take baths till I get my next period. That’s the worst part. I feel fine, so it’s frustrating to not be allowed to exercise.
The egg retrieval and recovery have been much easier than I expected. The entire egg donor process has been easier than I expected. The only negative has been that the timeline they gave before I started the process was not really accurate. I remember being told the entire process would take about 2-3 months. The process for me has taken a full 4 months.
The main question I get asked now is “Will you do it again?” I honestly don’t know yet. While it has been much easier than I thought it would be, it has taken much longer than I thought it would… and I’m looking forward to having my regular life back: exercise, fitting into my jeans, going out at night, not having needles poked into my body…
I know a lot of women first consider egg donation because of the money. Having gone through the process, I think that would be the wrong reason to do this. There are probably easier ways to make this amount of money over 4 months.
However… donating eggs to a couple who want children seems like one of the greatest gifts you could ever give another human being. You are giving of yourself… to help a stranger. And for that reason alone, becoming an egg donor is truly an extraordinary act of kindness and generosity.
For me, being an egg donor is something that I will always be proud I did.
By the way, they retrieved 12 eggs from me. The couple still has to wait before they’ll know if they are pregnant or not. In many ways, the process is barely beginning for them. They continue to be in my thoughts and prayers.
Donor – Jill, California