Injections/Monitoring

I didn't exactly wake up excited the day I was scheduled to start my injections. But as I soon found out, these weren't bad at all.

My protocol was simple: 225 IU's of Gonal-F every evening, and a Ganirelix shot after Day 6. Gonal-F comes in the shape of a pen with a tiny, tiny needle to be attached, and I can't say that I ever even felt the needle go in when I did the injection on my belly. I was so relieved after my first shot that I laughed out loud. Ganirelix was not bad either. 

I was a somewhat slow responder so I ended up stimming for almost two weeks, a bit longer than is common. I didn't really feel anything going on in my belly until two days before the retrieval, when I started to feel like a big stuffed goose. My hCG shot was subcutaneous (in the belly), so it wasn't a big deal after 2 weeks of the other injections. 

I found the almost daily ultrasounds to be far more uncomfortable, particularly as I got closer to the retrieval date. During the last u/s, the technician noted that I had "tons" of eggs. I found that disturbing and at that point just couldn't wait to get rid of them!

How I became an egg donor

It wasn't until two years after I graduated that I saw another egg donor ad, on craigslist, while looking for an apartment. This time, I had just moved to Chicago for a job. This time, home was much further away, and considerably longer ago. It wasn't that I had a particular urge to pass on my genes, or to help out a childless couple. More than anything, I felt adventurous. I had always taken an interest in medicine, wasn't afraid of medical procedures, and figured that trying this out would be a good way to do something nice for other people while and earning a bit of cash on the side and having an interesting time.

The anonymity of a big city where, at the time, I did not have as much as an acquaintance, helped me muster up the courage necessary to click that "send button" and submit that information form to the donor agency, along with a few pictures. It read something like this:

Age: 24

Education: Ivy League graduate

Height: 5-9

Weight: 135

Medical history: virtually none.

Smoking: never

30 pages of paperwork, an in-person interview, and a personality test later, I was matched with a couple who liked my profile. Between the day I submitted my profile and the moment I learned I had been "matched," less than 10 days had passed.

I didn't expect things to move so fast but thought, let's do it. I was too excited and scared to tell anyone.

Two years and three donations later, I essentially still haven't told anyone.

You sold our grandchild...?

I first came across an egg donor ad in my school's campus paper several years back, as an undergraduate. The ad read, "Loving childless couple seeking Ivy League-educated egg donor. Compensation $15,000." Or maybe it was $25,000. Some physical criteria were listed, a minimum SAT score perhaps. I remember being vaguely intrigued but mostly creeped out, thinking, who would do this? How could you go through life knowing that you have genetically related offspring out there? Beyond that, I was convinced that my otherwise liberal parents would disown me....for selling their grandchildren....as they would surely see this. I tossed the ad and thought nothing more of it.

Not in a million years did I think that I would indeed donate my eggs - not once, but several times - and that it would become a major, adventurous, and mostly happy part of my life. On some days, I am still surprised that I am doing this.

Could I blog?

The other day I saw the movie Julie and Julia and couldn't help but wonder...Could I, too, blog? I resolved to give it a try. 

So here I am, blogging about my experience as an egg donor --  an intriguing and at times disturbing journey whose many facets frequently occupy my mind. My thoughts, questions, doubts, and general soliloquies about things egg donation will now be shared with you - whoever you are out there in the ether. 

So stay tuned for my first "real" post, on how I became an egg donor. A real-life golden goose, so to speak.