When creating your surrogacy plan, you have choices to make about how you pursue the process. For those looking to include the egg donation process in their surrogacy journey, you may have questions about what that looks like. The egg donation process has its own rules and regulations to understand. Learn more about what finding an egg donor through the egg donation process looks like.

If you have questions about how the egg donation works with the surrogacy process, a surrogacy professional is a great resource. Connect with a surrogacy agency to speak to a surrogacy professional today.

Step 1: Choose an egg donor.

There are so many resources today for finding an egg donor. Working with a fertility clinic can help you with this process. For those looking to go through the surrogacy process with an egg donor, your surrogacy agency may be able to point you in the right direction as well. They may even offer egg donation services. Talk with a surrogacy professional to discover what your options are.

Step 2: Semen collection.

Once an egg donor has been selected you will need to collect semen to create the embryo. This can either come from a parent or a donor. The semen samples can be frozen or fresh on the day of egg retrieval. This option is something you can discuss with your fertility professional for the egg donation process.

Step 3: Egg donor medical screening.

The egg donor you have chosen will go through a screening process. Every egg donor will go through this part of the egg donation process, which will take 14-21 days to go through. This process will include:

• Review of the donor’s profile, medical records, psychological assessment and risk evaluation
• A detailed medical history
• A physical/pelvic exam
• A specific pelvic ultrasound examination of her ovaries
• Comprehensive blood tests including infectious panel and genetic carrier screening
• A urine drug screen

Step 4: Egg donor legal contract.

Just like in the surrogacy process, the egg donor process will require a legal contract. Your donor agency will connect you with an attorney who specializes in reproductive law. They will then draft the legal contract for you and the egg donor. The legal part of the egg donation process can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to a few months.

Step 5: Egg retrieval stimulation cycle.

For a fresh egg donation process, you will next go through the egg retrieval stimulation cycle. The average time for this cycle is usually around two weeks, but each case can vary depending on the donor’s cycle. The egg retrieval stimulation cycle begins when the donor starts her medication used for ovarian stimulation.

Step 6: Fertilization and PGT testing.

Once the eggs have been fertilized with the collected sperm, there will be a fertilization report through your fertility clinic. The embryos will be cultured for about a week and then biopsied and sent for preimplantation genetic testing. The final embryo will then be provided in one to two weeks.

Step 7: Implant Embryo in Surrogate

Many people will have gone through the egg donor process for surrogacy prior to choosing a surrogate, especially if they are going with a frozen donor egg. However, they may start laying out their options for egg donors once they’ve started the surrogacy process. No matter what direction you are going through on your surrogacy journey, the final step of the egg donation process is implanting the fertilized embryo.

Going through the egg donor process as you begin surrogacy is an exciting time for parents. You’re finally embarking on a path to having the child you’ve been waiting to add to your family. If you have questions about using an egg donor for the surrogacy process, contact a surrogacy professional today.