Using donor eggs in fertility treatment

Many individuals and couples who visit our New Braunfels fertility center rely on donor eggs to help make their dream of parenthood a reality. There are many reasons people turn to egg donors for family-building help.

• Age-related infertility. Female fertility declines with age. Once a woman reaches her mid-30s or 40s, her egg supply has greatly decreased in quality and quantity, which can make it more difficult to conceive.
• Recurrent miscarriage or repeated IVF failure. Some women and couples will experience multiple miscarriages or IVF failure. In these cases, egg donation may improve their chance of conceiving.
• Single men and gay couples. When gay couples or single men want to conceive, they will need to rely on an egg donor and a gestational surrogate to achieve fatherhood.

Whatever the reason for using egg donation, our compassionate staff is here to guide you through every step of the process.

The process of using donor eggs

Our New Braunfels fertility center has a database of highly qualified and vetted egg donors that parents can view. Couples or individuals using donor eggs participate in an IVF cycle. This process mirrors traditional IVF, but with a few added steps.

• We evaluate the physical and mental health of potential donors. They must also undergo fertility and genetic testing to make sure they are excellent candidates for egg donation.
• Parents can select an egg donor from our database. When making their choice, they can view non-identifying donor information, including interests, health, hobbies and skills.
• Susan Hudson MD syncs the egg donor’s menstrual cycle to that of the hopeful mother or gestational carrier using medication. The egg donor takes medication to encourage her ovaries to produce many eggs during one cycle.
• After careful monitoring to ensure healthy development of multiple eggs, we bring the egg donor back to our office for egg retrieval.
• After retrieval, laboratory technicians fertilize the donor eggs using sperm from the hopeful father or a donor. After fertilization, Dr. Hudson transfers one healthy embryo to the hopeful mother or gestational carrier’s uterus. Our team can freeze the remaining embryos for future use.

Using donor eggs with confidence

At our New Braunfels fertility center, we understand the tremendous faith that egg donors and parents place in us. We use our years of experience at the top of the field to do everything in our power to help patients conceive and grow their family. To learn more about egg donation, contact our office.