Egg donation: All the questions you ask yourself before starting treatment
When a woman or a couple begins an assisted reproductive treatment, one only knows what the end should be: having a healthy child in her arms. But … How is the road? What will be the best treatment? But when the road passes through an egg donation, doubts, questions and fears arise. We have asked Pilar Dolz, psychologist of IVI ValenciaIn this post, let me reflect on the main doubts that arise when the word egg donation is mentioned in an assisted reproduction consultation.
More and more women are those who delay the age of first motherhood, for different personal reasons and new social circumstances.
The truth is that, in our culture, the “ideal maternity age” does not coincide at all with the social age of our young women; Studies, the beginning of a work project, the desired economic stability, even emotional stability, are not reached at that age that nature marks as ideal for being a mother.
Due to all these circumstances, many more assisted reproduction treatments are currently performed with egg donation, which we know as Egg Donation. This technique is becoming one of the techniques that most resolves the desire for motherhood.
Egg donation is an “oxygen balloon” for those women who postponed motherhood due to different projects, due to imposed or voluntary circumstances, or simply because life is sometimes complicated. Egg donation is an opportunity not to have to give up one thing or another and to be able to choose one and the other as well.
Egg donation and society
It is very normal to hear in consultation, doubts about egg donation. Very often you ask us: Is gamete donation normalized in our society?
I’d say a lot more than 15 or 20 years ago. And it is precisely this large number of women who use this technique, which favors the normalization of oocyte donation, becoming a common practice in assisted reproduction treatments in almost all clinics.
This treatment has the same objective as the other treatments and is to fulfill the desire to start a family, to make that life project come true, at the moment that you have decided.
Egg donation: Each person needs their time
The fact that the donation is socially normalized does not prevent the woman or the couples who must enter these processes from having their concerns. A shock at the beginning, a genetic duel and a stage of anger, disinterest and irritability, until concluding in a stage of real acceptance of the problem.
Each person has their time to reach that acceptance. Even within the same couple they can be different times. You have to be respectful of the times each patient needs.
Psychologists, as you know, are a very active part in the donor selection process. The donor evaluation tries to guarantee, as far as possible, the health of the offspring and make sure that the donor is a physically and psychologically healthy person and will not be harmed by the fact of donating.
What are the most common questions about Egg Donation?
From here I encourage you to have a chat with us, the professionals of the IVI Emotional Support Unit, to learn about the selection process, contrast opinions and share your fears, concerns, doubts and questions. We will talk about what worries you:
Who are the donors?
What groups do they belong to?
What medical and psychological tests are performed on them?
How and who chooses a donor for a recipient?
Is it necessary to count it?
How important is the genetic link?
Why is the affective bond so important?
What determines the genetic load?
If these are your doubts, do not be afraid to ask and transfer these questions in the consultation. We are here to solve all the concerns that arise when the word Egg donation comes out in consultation.
What role does Epigenetics have in egg donation treatment?
Many of you, you already know what we are talking about … The development of pregnancy is key to determining the genetic map of the baby. And also, a study by IVI, determined the connection and the modification that the maternal uterus performs on the embryo. We tell you about it and you can see it in this post about epigenetics. We are constantly doing research about this bond that is established within the mother’s womb.
I leave you a small summary in this video.
Talk later?
With good information, you will have a broader vision that will allow you to make the decision more freely.
And whatever the decision, it will always be the right one.
In each IVI clinic we have an Emotional Support Unit that can help and listen to you, and that periodically organizes workshops and talks with which you can solve all the concerns you have.
Pilar Dolz
Psychologist
IVI Valencia
