We are With You Every Step of the Way

Application Process

The first step to becoming a donor with the Center for Surrogacy & Egg Donation is to complete the online application. The application will ask you for some general information so that potential Intended Parents can get to know a little about who you are and why you are interested in becoming a donor. You will also be asked about your interests, your educational background, any special talents you may have, your pregnancy history, if any, your health history and the health history of your family members.

Once your application is accepted, you will need to submit a recent physical and pap smear.

After your records have been reviewed to verify that you will qualify to be a donor, you will be contacted by a member of the egg donor team who will discuss the egg donation process with you in greater detail.

Upon completion of these steps, we will formally welcome you as an approved donor with the Center for Surrogacy & Egg Donation and add your profile to our donor database.

Finding the Right Donor Match

Intended parents access our donor database and are able to view profiles of many different donors. At CSED we know that there are many different types of families. As such, different Intended Parents may be looking for different things in their donor’s background. All parents are looking to match with a donor who will help them have a child who will fit in with their family. What that means can be different for different people, but things that many Intended Parents are looking for include:

• Ethnic Background - We encourage women of all ethnic backgrounds to apply to be donors. Women of certain backgrounds, such as Asian, African-American, Jewish and many other ethnicities, are in high demand. Please be as specific as possible when telling us about your ethnic background.

• Educational Level - Women who are attending or have graduated from a 4-year college or who have a graduate degree are in higher demand.

• Special Talents - Many Intended Parents look to match with a donor who has a specific talent. If you are a musician, actor, an athlete, a leader at school or in your community, etc. please share your experience with us. Intended parents love to hear as much about your background as possible.

Our Intended Parents come from incredibly diverse backgrounds so we are looking for women who are also from diverse backgrounds to become CSED donors.

Once an intended parent or parents express interest in your profile, we will provide you with some detailed (non-identifying) information about the Intended Parents. It is very important that you feel good about the egg donation process and we encourage you to ask us anything you would like to know about the intended parent or parents.

Clinic Screening

After you and the Intended Parents have matched, we will provide copies of your medical records to the IVF Clinic with which the Intended Parents are working. Although the screening process can vary slightly from clinic to clinic, the typical IVF Clinic screening appointment for you will consist of:

• Consultation with the IVF physician and nurses

• Discussion of the IVF process, including the medications that will be prescribed

• Antral Follicle Scan (an ultrasound) of your ovaries and AMH (Anti-Mullerian Hormone) blood test to help predict your fertility

• Bloodwork and urinalysis for sexually transmitted diseases and drug use for you and your partner

• Mental health evaluation and consultation

Legal

Although the law on egg donation is becoming more and more developed, a legal contract between you and the Intended Parents is required to make clear that you will not be considered a legal parent of any child conceived. It is very important that both you and the Intended Parents receive independent legal advice from an attorney experienced in reproductive law.

In general, the legal process includes:

• Drafting and negotiation of the egg donor contract - You will be able to select an attorney experienced in reproductive law that you feel comfortable with.

• Legal Clearance - The IVF Clinic will require a legal clearance letter prior to the start of the IVF Cycle.

• Anonymity - It is possible to enter a legal contract between you and the intended parent or parents and still maintain the parties’ anonymity. Your attorney will explain the process to you.

The IVF Cycle

The IVF Clinic will provide you with detailed instructions on what you need to do to prepare for the IVF Cycle. Different IVF Clinics and different doctors may have slightly different protocols for the IVF Cycle. It is very important that you follow the instructions given to you for the particular cycle even if you have donated before. In general, the IVF process will consist of:

• Outline of the IVF Cycle calendar - A nurse will provide you with a calendar of when to start and stop taking medications.

• Monitoring - You will have several blood draws and ultrasounds prior to the egg retrieval. These are done to ensure that your ovaries are responding to the medications properly and that your hormone levels are in an expected range. The monitoring appointments are done early mornings so that they will have as minimal an impact on your schedule as possible.

• Egg Retrieval - Eggs are collected from your ovaries using vaginal ultrasound while you are under light sedation.