*This post is the second in our Egg Donor Series. Read the first post here. The final post is here.
The next phase of being an egg donor was the most technical and was also the most confusing. After I describe it, it may sound like it’s the worst part overall. But for me it wasn’t so bad.
Injections For Weeks Before Donating
A few weeks before my expected donation date, the clinic sent me home with two big bags full of medications and supplies. They were all injections that went right into my belly every day.
One medication I had to mix from a powder, another stayed in the fridge, one stung sharply after going in, the other came with a fancy pen-like device for the injection.
I had to wipe down just under my belly button with alcohol swabs, measure different doses for each medication, then I forced my husband to stab me with the needles so I wouldn’t ruin it by trying to do it myself.
I had to do the injections in the morning, then go into the clinic almost everyday so they could draw blood and do ultrasounds. They monitored medication and hormone levels in my blood and would text me the same day if I needed to adjust my dosage. With the ultrasounds they would measure every single follicle on my ovaries that started growing.
Swollen Follicles and Ovaries
So normally when you’re getting ready to ovulate, you have a single follicle ready to release an egg, sometimes maybe two. But the hormonal medications made it so I was growing as many follicles as possible in order to release more eggs.
The ultrasounds took a little while, and these were the vaginal kind. I had around 30 follicles and the doctor told me some donors have up to 50 follicles. The follicles would grow up to 1.5 cm each! So every single section of my ovaries was covered in follicles.
With the growth, my belly started to swell like I was pregnant, and there was tender pressure in my lower belly back toward my spine. The doctor said my ovaries had swollen so large they were touching and pointed back, hence the pushing of all my gut out.
What To NOT Do Before Donating
I had a calendar with everything scheduled, the dates and times for which medications, and then the clinic appointments. I even had to visit different clinic locations because some visits had to be done on the weekends.
A week before my extraction date I was told to not have any sort of high impact exercise. But honestly, I stopped exercising when I started the injections because my whole core felt like it was going to pop. Especially leading up the last few days, the weight of my ovaries strained my Fallopian tubes.
When I would get up in the morning, with the movement of sitting up was the worst of it all day. It made perfect sense though because our ovaries are not muscles like our uterus. When we’re pregnant, the stretching and growth of our uterus supports that expansion slowly and gradually.
But with my ovaries, that expansion was fast! And there aren’t really a sack of muscles to support holding them up. The fact that I couldn’t workout my core didn’t help. When I would try to flex my core to reduce the strain, it became more tender and uncomfortable because of the swelling pressure.
Also the week before, I was told strictly NO SEX. Because if I was to suddenly ovulate before intended and there just happened to be sperm in there, I could possibly get pregnant with hundreds of babies. No thank you! Even thought I have an IUD, my husband and I just pulled the plug when I started injections.
One of the medications was to prevent ovulation, but there was always still a chance. So I wasn’t going to risk it after how easy it was to get pregnant with our third baby.
Days Before The Extraction Surgery
One thing that was nice was that I didn’t notice any sort of side effects from the medications, other than the abdominal discomfort. No mood swings or allergic reactions by any means. I did also have the red prick marks and a little bruising below my belly button from all the shots. But that was it.
I was scheduled to do the egg extraction on a Wednesday, but my follicles were measuring so large so quickly that they moved it back to Tuesday. I was to stop all the injections three days before, then do one specific shot 2.5 days before.
This last medication was called a trigger kit and was for triggering ovulation exactly 36 hours after the injection. So I had to do the trigger at 8pm on the dot on Sunday night because my extraction surgery was for 8am on Tuesday.
Then the night before my extraction I had to talk with the anesthesiologist attending my extraction surgery. She had to clarify things with me to make sure she set up the surgery properly before I arrived. I went to bed with a full stomach because in the morning I couldn’t have any food or water before the surgery, standard procedure for any surgery really.
The Morning of Egg Extraction
The next morning my husband and I dropped off our boys at a daycare center, then we headed to the clinic. While sitting in the waiting room since we had to be early, there were other couples there waiting too.
I looked around at these couples … wondering. I wondered if any of them were receiving a donation today. I wasn’t allowed to know specifically if all my eggs were going to go to a donor bank, or also to an awaiting couple the same, or both.
So there was a chance that one, some, or all of my eggs were going right to one of these couples. Or all my eggs were to immediately be shipped to a donor bank(s) anywhere in the world. It was just a nice moment to sit and contemplate the experience I was about to go through, and those of any recipients my eggs would go to.
I wasn’t second guessing or doubting my decision. I was a tad nervous, but mostly calm and subtly excited. I was about to donate my eggs! The process had been trickier than I thought it would be up until now. But I wasn’t turning back at all.
How have you felt before having surgery that just might change your life?
Stay tuned for the last post in this series where I’ll share the final part of my experience!
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
- How I Got Started As An Egg Donor
- The Hardest and Best Part About Being An Egg Donor
- I’m Ready To Start A Family
- Pregnancy Risks After Age 35 You Need To Know
- Confident Mother Natural Birthing Course
Leave a Reply