In the spring of 2014, I decided to explore becoming an egg donor. I had recently finished my Bachelor’s degree and decided to look further into what being an egg donor would entail. After looking through the websites of various agencies, I filled out the application with Circle to hopefully be picked by and matched with potential parents. My experience turned out to be more rewarding and fulfilling than I could have imagined at the time.
Within a few weeks, my contact at the agency reached out to let me know that there was a potential intended parent (IP), and that she had some questions for me to help make her decision. I was more than happy to answer all the additional questions to make her feel more confident that I was who she was looking for. It was actually pretty fun answering the questions she had for me, such as my ideal vacation or how my friends would describe me. When I received my response back from her, I knew that being an egg donor was going to be an incredible part of my life. She had picked all the same words I had. She had traveled all of the places I dream of going. How much our personalities overlapped left her in tears of happiness. Her heartfelt emails touched me, and I am honored to have been matched with her.
Before starting the rest of the process, we “met” on Skype. The agency I work with encourages known donations. On my application I marked known was fine, but I did not think it would really make a difference. Now, I am grateful for that recommendation. The 20-minute chat with my possible IP turned into hours. I had the pleasure of “meeting” her son as well. We let the agency know that we were sure in our decision to move forward as a match.
From there, I had initial some blood work and tests. Everything was coordinated very easily with the agency. I then had about a month of self injections and appointments before traveling to the clinic my IP uses for the retrieval. While some of this could be overwhelming, especially with grad school at the same time, I had endless resources of support. I had my own friends, boyfriend, and family. I had several people from the agency, a coordinator from my IP’s clinic, and regular emails from my IP. The agency worked with me to make sure everything was going smoothly. My IP checked in to see how the medications were affecting me, how school is going, and sharing pictures and stories of her life with her son. There were regular words of encouragement, even just for whatever paper I was writing that day.
When it finally came to traveling for the egg retrieval, it was arranged efficiently. I just had to be on the plane and get to my hotel and appointments. I had my boyfriend with me, and we really enjoyed spending time in a different city. I also had a program coordinator recommending restaurants and activities, another contact from the agency checking in, and plans to get together with my IP. The day after my retrieval I spent the day with my IP and her son, carving pumpkins and decorating the house with Halloween decorations. She was an amazing mother with a sweet and fun 4 year old. It was genuinely my honor to assist in expanding her family. She is now pregnant with a little girl, and I am overjoyed to have a relationship with her where I receive updates on how her pregnancy is going.
Having the opportunity to know my IP made my first donation one of the best experiences I could have asked for. As a first-time egg donor, this was all new for me and I did not know what to expect. For my IP, it was a huge decision to use an egg donor to have another child. Becoming acquainted reassured us both in going forward. I was recently matched with a couple that I am going to “meet” very soon and I am eager to see where this journey will go.
Kiera S. is a known egg donor with Circle Egg Donation. Circle is a full-service egg donation agency, working with intended parents across the globe and U.S.-based egg donors.