The wheels are definitely in motion!

For a long time, it was wait-wait-wait, but now everything seems to be happening all at once! It's all coming at me pretty fast, but I'm just super excited and trying to keep up.

I now have a case worker with Family Creations who will be coordinating things, such as my transportation to and from appointments, and basically keeping all the info between me and the recipients straight and up-to-date.

I've also been contacted by a lawyer who specializes in reproductive law who is awaiting the contracts. She'll be representing me and asking any questions I might have about the legal aspects of all of this. That's pretty cool. Not that I'm too concerned about legalities. At least, not right now.

And this week I'll have my first appointment & exam at the recipient's doctor's office. Potentially TMI - though that's sort of the nature of the beast here in an egg donation blog! - but these first exams need to be done during the week of your period. (Also, if you're not already on birth control, they will prescribe it to you, as well as the recipient, and they'll sync her up with your schedule.) On Day 1 of your period, you call them to schedule your appointment, which will be done on Day 3 of your period.

The appt. will consist of a blood test and an ultrasound. (Whoa, this stuff's gettin' real!) There are several types of ultrasounds (none of which I've ever had myself), so I'm not sure which I'll be having just yet. The RN who contacted me said the blood test is about 5 mins & the ultrasound is about 15. Oh, and these tests need to be done in the morning. Something to do with "stimulation."

So that is most of what's been going on in the past couple of weeks. I'll let you know how the appointment goes.

It's official!

Paperwork pending, I have been officially selected as an egg donor!

I got the call last week from Family Creations, and they said the couple is simply ecstatic about me. I could not be happier myself. This is really great news coming at a really good time for me. Especially when some other things are not going as great. But! HOORAH!

A case worker is supposed to call me soon to set up more details, meetings, exams, etc.

I will, of course, keep you posted every step of the way! :)

Harumph News & Good News

I heard back on my inquiry about the average wait time of donors, and the woman who responded seemed a little miffed and gave me a curt "Rest assured, we're doing everything we can to find you a match." Hmkay then! It was a simple question, and I didn't really get any kind of answer on the average wait time at all, but that's fine. No harm in waiting.

I just got back from my trip abroad yesterday, however, and today I got a voicemail from Family Creations saying there had been some developments. Apparently there are two couples (local ones, in my area-ish) who are interested in working with me. I called back to confirm that I am still in the area and don't have any more trips coming up - alas! *sniff* - and she said that it sounded great and she would be in touch with them and hopefully contact me soon with some official good news. Hoorah!

This is very exciting. Though I wonder how it works having two couples interested in me. I mean, will they thumb wrestle it out? Have some kind of bidding war? Hmmm? I kid, I kid.

But YAY, I had just been thinking on my trip about this (the woman we stayed with was diabetic and had to give herself shots, so I asked about the shot-giving and ended up talking about my decision to be a donor) and was wondering if it would happen after all. Glad to see there is good progress, and it sounds like if something happens with one couple, surely the other couple will still be interested. :)

The Waiting Game

Well, I am still playing the waiting game. I haven't heard back from Family Creations since I emailed them to just give them a heads up that I will be out of the country for a few weeks next month - I figured that might be something to tack onto my profile since it'd be best to wait until I'm back before starting any hormones. I can't imagine traveling internationally with such things. It just seems like it would be a really big hassle. They said they would make a note of it and let any potential recipients know. I also emailed again today just to ask what the general time frame is for potential donors before they are selected - if there is an average "waiting time," so to speak. We'll see what they say.

Also, hard times call for desperate egg donation? Sorta interesting little blip from Salon, if you care to read it. Not a ton of new info there, but I did learn a few things. And this article they linked to was actually a bit scary. Even though they say there are no known links to some of the medical issues they mention, it sounds like follow-up on egg donor health should definitely be a higher priority.

First interview & leftover egg options

I had my phone interview with Family Creations last week. I was slightly nervous, only because I wasn't sure what all they'd be asking, but it was no problem. It was mostly just the same stuff from my profile and application and such. The woman really loved my profile and how detailed it was, and she said she wouldn't be surprised if I was selected "fairly quickly." She also gave me a full run-down of the process, which was pretty much exactly what all the paperwork said, but I guess they have to keep their bases covered on the assumption that some people might not read it. Which is ludicrous, but... y'know. Some people are like that.

I did learn some stuff about the options regarding any remaining eggs after the retrieval process. Once they are retrieved, they become the property of the recipients, who have four options:

1) They can freeze them and use them again later for a sibling for their child (or to try again if it is unsuccessful the first time around)
2) They can freeze them and later donate them to a friend or relative
3) They can donate them for stem-cell research
4) They can destroy them

Apparently I can have some input in this. I'm not sure how much, but I will be appointed a lawyer, free of charge, to explore the options when the time comes. And, again, I'm not sure if it's "This is what I demand!" so much as "These options are my preferences," and people are just matched accordingly.

I also wonder - and I didn't ask this - if it might be an option to get any back if needed someday. Like, if for some reason I needed my own eggs later, and these fine people had some of mine, would they go ahead and donate them back to me? I would assume that out of the goodness of their hearts - and out of appreciation for what I did - they would be happy to donate a few back to the person who donated to them in the first place, but they would certainly be under no legal obligation to do so. It would just have to be something worked out between people. Then again, it's also supposed to be anonymous, so I'm not sure how that would work. Perhaps we'd have to go through FC? Though if this is something I were thinking about, I'd also have to let FC know I don't want option 4.

My mom was also highly against option 3, so out of respect for her, I expressed that I'm not leaning toward that one. I probably don't know enough about stem-cell research to make a big decision on it (for me, it's kind of like... it's science; it's research; don't we need to do this in order to make medical advances and discover reasons for diseases and come up with cures? isn't that's something that's really important?), but it's not that big a deal to me to decline the option for now. And later down the road, the lawyer can fill me in fully, too.

Paperwork & pictures

Today I printed all my paperwork and contracts for Family Creations and began filling everything out to send in a.s.a.p. This is the first time I felt a teensy bit nervous, reading through all the legal jargon and "Donor and donor's husband, if any, renounce all rights to child to Intended Parents..." etc. Actually, that wasn't the scary part. I don't want the kid! It's yours! Please love it and care for it and raise it right!

No, it was caused by the descriptions of all the medications - Lupron (Leurpolide Acetate), Follicle Stimulating Hormones (FSH or Gonadotropins), Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG or Trigger shot) - and the retrieval process itself. Two words: vaginal probe. HA! Better than the words "vaginal tearing" (one of my great, painful fears surrounding pregnancy) if you ask me.

They also need at least 15 photos for my profile's photo gallery and have very specific requirements for them:

We require at least 15 photos ranging from when you were a baby up until now. The majority of the pictures should be recent. These photos can include other people in them. There should be a wide array of pictures including at least 3 baby pictures and at least 8 recent pictures of you. Recipients love to see candid pictures of our donors, such as athletic/extracurricular activities, birthday parties, camping trips, etc. There should also be 4 recent headshots or recent pictures where there is a clear shot of your face. The more pictures you submit the better!

Good thing there are 1,000+ photos of me on Facebook and I'm so gosh darn photogenic, right? Seems like the only hitch is that whole "athletic... camping" thing. Uh... how about candids of me eating tacos? Does that work? (KIDDING.)

The application

I heard back from Family Creations today and was told to send in some paperwork and complete my profile. I momentarily panicked, thinking I would have to fill out the in-depth information AGAIN, but was pleased to see it had saved everything where I left it.

So I thought I would take this opportunity to describe a bit more about the application itself. It's a very odd thing to compose. In a way, it's like a combination of any standard social networking site profile (basic personal info, favorites), a personal ad (physical appearance, how you spend your time), and resume (education background, employment history, career goals). Just like with the last two examples, you are essentially 'selling' yourself in the same way you would to a potential date or employer - in that you want to make yourself as appealing as possible while still being honest. There's also an element of college application to it with the short essay portions, like this:

(Click for larger.)

Those are my answers - don't steal 'em! ;)

There's also a "For Fun" section that is, as I said, a lot like a Facebook profile - favorite movies, favorite music, etc. They even had the ol' standby question, "If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?" (I chose a fennec fox because they're AWESOME. Only I said it much more eloquently, of course.)

The medical history section can be a bit daunting. There is a huge list of conditions, and you have to identify who in your family has/has had them and give details, like so:

(Click for larger.)

It's a lot to get through, so be prepared! But have fun with it, too. Well, where appropriate. So, y'know, not in the medical section.

Prep

When planning to undergo something like this, research is obviously extremely important. You have to understand the process and feel safe and comfortable with it.

I read a lot of testimonials and talked to my doctor as well. After undergoing my women's yearly gynecological appointment, I asked Dr. Elliot M. Levine a few questions. Having had normal results regarding all the lady business every woman should be getting screened and tested for, I was, in his opinion, an excellent candidate.

He also seemed to speak as though one of my concerns might be that donating my eggs would somehow negatively affect my fertility later in life - and though this actually wasn't a concern of mine, it is certainly a concern for many potential donors. In this respect, he mentioned a patient of his who donated not just once but a couple of times - and later down the road, he delivered her baby.

Obviously everyone's bodies are different, and likewise so are women's fertility cycles. But having talked to my doctor and read both medical testimonials and various articles in the news, I felt comfortable going forward with my decision.

I applied to two programs: Family Creations in May 2008 and Fertility Futures in June 2008. The nearly identical online applications for each were extremely long and detailed (obviously). After completing them, I found it interesting that one of the things they note is that they will not tell you any reason why you may be rejected - nor will they even tell you if you are rejected. Interesting.

That said, I started to wonder if perhaps I was not accepted for some reason, as I hadn't heard back in many months.

This month, however, Family Creations emailed me:

Hello!
Your application to become an egg donor was approved and would love to have you as one of our Family Creations donors! It has been a few months since you've applied, and we would like to know if you are still interested in the process. Becoming an egg donor is a wonderful way to help a loving couple and at the same time ear $7000 in just 3 short months. If you have any questions regarding the donor process feel free to contact our office or send us an email. If you are no longer interested in becoming an egg donor please let us know as well.

Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you soon!

Oh, I am definitely still interested! I let them know this and am currently waiting to hear what steps come next. When I find out, you'll be the next to know!