This post is in partnership with Donor Nexus, Leading International Egg Donation Agency in California, to help educate and create awareness of some of the difficult choices surrounding donor egg conception.
Should I choose Fresh or Frozen Donor Eggs?
This is such an overwhelming decision to have to make and there are so many different schools of thought on whether it’s better to use fresh or frozen donor eggs. It’s easy to feel confused on which direction to take. This is truly a personal decision and heavily based on your situation and the plans you have for your future family. I’m not a doctor or expert by any means, but I have definitely been faced with this decision multiple times in my life and feel the need to share my personal reflection.
First, I think it’s important to understand the difference between fresh donor eggs and frozen donor eggs.
What's the difference between fresh and frozen donor eggs?
In an IVF cycle with fresh donor eggs, an egg donor is selected from a database and once legal contracts have been signed, she begins an IVF cycle to stimulate and grow her follicles with the goal to retrieve as many healthy eggs as possible. Once retrieved, her eggs are then fertilized with sperm from either the intended father or sperm donor. After fertilization, you can choose to immediately transfer one (sometimes two) of the embryos and freeze the rest for future cycles. Or if you don’t want to try to time your cycle with hers, you can freeze them all for a later date IVF transfer.
In an IVF cycle with frozen donor eggs, the eggs have already been retrieved from an egg donor and are frozen (cryopreserved ) in an egg bank. In this scenario, you are typically receiving 6-8 frozen eggs (commonly referred to as a lot, cohort or batch). Once your lab receives the eggs, they then go through a thawing process before fertilization and transfer.
In both donor egg options, egg donors are tested for genetic and infectious diseases as well as psychologically screened. In most cases frozen donor eggs come from a donor egg bank and fresh donor eggs come from a donor egg agency, however, I was impressed to discover Donor Nexus because they provide both fresh and frozen donor egg options at one place.
If you are looking for more information on egg donation and how the whole donor egg process Donor Nexus does a great job of breaking it down here.
Why I Decided To Use Fresh Donor Eggs
When we were first approached by our doctor about using donor eggs it was definitely a huge emotional undertaking, which I’ve talked about in other posts. I had never even heard of anyone using donor eggs before in my life. Not even a celebrity. I didn’t have any examples to pull from, so I put a lot of trust in my doctor because I knew she had our best interest at heart. I also knew she wanted us to be successful.
She suggested we try fresh donor eggs because it gave us the most chances. She knew we wanted more than one child, and since I’d never been pregnant, we needed as many at-bats as possible. By choosing a fresh egg donor cycle we would be receiving all of the eggs our donor had from that one cycle, which was ultimately thirty one eggs! HUGE, right? That’s what we thought too, until those numbers dwindled as we fertilized and did genetic testing. We ended up with three PGS tested embryos.
Three tries to get to one, very magical, beautiful baby.
Why I Would Choose Frozen Donor Eggs... Next Time...
The first reason would be the time it takes. My daughter is now three years old and after a year of failed transfers, the idea of starting over an entirely new donor egg cycle is extremely daunting. I don’t know if I have the emotional strength to wait it out again, and certainly don’t want to put my family through that.
If I’m being completely honest, another big reason would be the cost. We spent over $60k on one fresh donor egg cycle, including the donor’s travel expenses, agency fees, her meds, etc. and with a frozen cycle you get to skip a lot of that because the eggs have already been retrieved. A frozen cycle can end up being closer to $20k, which is still non drop in the bucket, but an easier pill to swallow.
The third reason is that we would be extremely happy with one baby. If I can get one or two good quality embryos then it’s worth it to try for a sibling. Granted, choosing a new donor would mean that any resulting babies wouldn’t be 100% genetically related to my daughter, but I’m okay with that. I don’t share any genetics with my daughter, yet we love each other like our own flesh and blood. I have no doubts she would love her sibling the same.
So, What Should You Choose: Fresh or Frozen Donor Eggs?
If it’s important to you that you have multiple tries and/or multiple children, then a fresh donor cycle might be the best choice. Unfortunately we have to play our best odds and the more tries you have, the higher odds you have at becoming a mom. Just know that this process takes time and the waiting game can be brutal. It took us about a year to go through an entire fresh donor cycle, fertilize and transfer. It’s important to set those expectations because when you make the decision to move to donor eggs, it can feel like a new wave of hope and you will likely want to jump right in, but it takes time. However, with that being said, it was 100% #worththewait and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat to get to this girl.
Based on Donor Nexus’s stats, their fresh egg cycles have slightly higher success rates at 79% versus frozen eggs at 65%. But real talk, I had about .01% with my own eggs, so both of these numbers sound good to me!
If you have been pregnant before, looking to have one child or if you are simply looking for a more affordable option and ability to move quickly, then using frozen donor eggs is a solid option for you. Like I said earlier, if I were to try again, that’s the route I’d take at this phase in my life.
This post has been sponsored by Donor Nexus. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I've partnered with Donor Nexus to share my thoughts on Egg Donation and provide resources to help donor egg recipients make some of the hard decisions.
