It’s common practice to freeze some extra eggs recovered from an Egg Donor (assuming that they meet set medical standards), for your future use if necessary. Although used extensively, it’s still early days and successful pregnancy rates are still apparently lower than when you use donated eggs immediately as they are recovered. It is an area to watch, however, as it remains an effective protocol.
ICSI is usually used to fertilize frozen eggs after thawing.
Our Egg Donors, and – importantly – their eggs, age from 21 to 33. They are extremely viable and you should be careful not to transfer more than 2 embryos, to avoid triplets (or more) with all implications of multiple offspring.
When you meet with your Fertility Specialist, you should have some idea of which dates you want to be in South Africa, for an unbroken 12-day period.
We obviously rely on the Egg Donor to be honest. We do communicate with her and will verify selected information, but – believe us – there’s no real financial gain in donating, so no motive to lie on her profile.
Sorry, no. We can’t predict what may be happening in our Egg Donors’ life at any given moment. Although we do keep in touch even in their future, and work very hard to make sure that our database is current, there is no way that we can ask them to put their lives on hold for an indeterminate time.
Frozen eggs, thawed later, do lose about 50% of their fresh potential. You can imagine how difficult it is to perfectly preserve anything in this way! So, fresh is always better than frozen.
Retrieved eggs are surrounded by cumulous cells, that mask the true nature of the egg until they are removed by the sperm, about 19 hours after insemination.
We only work with qualified Egg Donors, by which we mean that we want full commitment and the best possible chance of a successful pregnancy. Apart from the exhaustive profiling and management from ababySA, your Egg Donor takes psychological tests to make absolutely sure that she is mentally healthy, with a clear understanding of all the implications and risks involved in Egg Donation.
Yes. We will do the initial matching and confirmations before handing over the file to your Fertility Specialist, who will specifically confirm that the Egg Donor you selected is the Egg Donor who is synchronised with you for the donation.
Our Egg Donors may decide to donate again. In South Africa, the medics suggest a maximum of six donations, or five pregnancies, whichever comes first. Clinics may differ slightly in this, but will be able to justify their policy to you.