Well, bit confused.

Just had a consultation at the Agora Clinic in Brighton. Wasn't told anything I didn't know. AMH is 1.97 which is fine for my age, but very low for fertility. She said OH's SA was fine, she said it was obviously up to us but she didn't recommend assisted conception due to my age, the odds are just too low. So I said we had already decided about DE and she said that was what she was going to suggest.

She said we should put our name down for their Egg sharing list. We can have the treatment at Brighton, which would be very convenient. They don't do egg donation though at Brighton just egg sharing. . I am not sure what the difference is between egg donor and egg sharing though. She was vague about the differences (you could tell she wanted us to stay at the Agora), apart from saying you only get half the eggs with egg sharing. So surely it's a better option to go with an egg donor?

Anyway, she said for us to carry on TTC naturally and to take DHEA, which I already have at home but not taken yet and to let her know if we want to be put on the list, with our requirements. It's £5300, plus meds, would be between £6k & £7k for egg sharing at the Agora.

I think we will try another couple of clinics for consultations (I know we will have to pay again), that do egg donation as well as egg sharing. I need to have as much as info as possible.

Which choice is better, egg donor, or egg sharing? Just when I thought I had got my head around something...something else pops up!!

Sorry for ramble, thought things would be clearer after the appointment.

Well, done a bit more digging today.

Egg donor - longer waiting list but you get all of the eggs.

Egg sharing - shorter waiting list but only half of the eggs.


Also, been on the National Gamete Donation Trust, which puts you in the right direction.

They advertise when they have egg donors available, what a fab idea!

SEFC (Tunbridge Wells): We have an egg donor here for whom we need to find a suitable second recipient. We are hoping for the proposed cycle to start as soon as possible.

Our ovum donor is altruistic, 31 years old, brown eyes, brown hair, slim build, white Caucasian.


It's a fab website, lists all the clinics in the country which offer egg donation.

http://www.ngdt.co.uk/finding-an-egg-donor

A National Trust. Wow, what a great service. There's nothing like that here. You're so fortunate.

I'm still in a waiting mode till April. Nothing happening. 12 dpo today and had a temp dip this morning so I'm expecting AF to visit soon. A little disappointed but I'm ok now that I know there's IVF on the horizon, thereby upping our chances.

I've also been reading about how economical DE overseas is. I would like to do it but I'm concerned about potential problems so far away from home. Do you think my fears are overblown?

Here's how I look at it:
Although the DNA came from another woman, the cell that she gave me is already long gone : every single cell in my baby's body has been knitted by me, using my blood and my bones.
This baby is therefore my creation. In much the same way as if I built a house, brick by brick, from an architect's plans, that house would be my own work - not the architect's!

Egg donation will come from an altruistic donor, whereas egg-sharing will be from another woman undergoing IVF.
Eggs from sharers will always be split in half - but do not assume that those from donors won't be.
At my clinic, eggs from donors are split between 2 recipients - so really the only advantage is that they probably don't come from a woman with fertility problems (though you can't even be sure of that)

Also beware waiting list times - we were told 6 months when we picked our clinic - but then donors dried up and the list didn't move for ages, so in the end it was 15 months.
That said, the UK situation is a lot better now that donors are paid £700 expenses instead of the pittance they used to get

I see where you are coming from but if we have to go abroad, then we will. I have done a alot of research on clinics abroad, there are excellent ones in Valencia, Bilbao, Athens and Prague.

First of all, many congratulations on your pregnancy!! xx

Thank you so much, I love how you describe the baby being your creation, wonderful.

Thank you also for explaining that eggs from an altruistic donor may also be split.

So, I have been to the Agora, the SEFC will be next place. To get as much info as poss.

Hi Ladies, Can I join you?

I am lucky enough that in our area we get 3 cycles of ivf. We had 2 and I dont respond well so that despite huge amounts of stimulants I get few eggs and what I have got are not good quality. The first time I ended up with one low grade embryo transferred on day 2 and on the second cycle 2 made it through to day three but they were both poor quality so they put them both in to give me better odds which is against the nhs guidelines.

Im 32 so dont know why I have such a low egg reserve. Straight after the 2nd failed cycle I had a weird cycle and ovulated super early (day 8) and miraculously got pregnant!!! We were in shock! But the hcg levels didnt rise as they were supposed to and we lost it around 6 weeks.

We assumed we still had one go left but now have been told that we classed as fertile and so wont get the last funded cycle. We will try appealing as the clinic had already suggested appealing the 6 month wait between cycles as my chances were so bad. Though that was before we found out we were briefly pregnant .

So it looks like we will have to go private. Previously the advice was to try IVF again as we had one more free go before considering DE. Im not sure that advice still stands and if we are going to pay perhaps we should go straight to DE as we know I have rubbish eggs. I knew DE was a possibility but perhaps in a years time after another go. I wasnt quite ready to think about it yet!!! Just reading your posts is already helping me to get my head a little straighter xxx

Fluffy xxx

Welcome fluffystar! First off, I am very sorry for your loss and that the first 2 IVF's were unsuccessful.

I really hope you can get funding for the next cycle, I wish you luck with the appeal.

Not having been through IVF yet, I am afraid I am no help with what your results were when you went through IVF, but if I was you, I would have more discussions with your clinic about trying again with your own eggs, ie what sort of percentage of success, any more tests need to be done...etc... You don't have to think about DE yet, but it is good you are thinking about all your options and not hanging all your hopes on just the one. Wish I had been that sensible at your age!

Keep us posted! x

Hi ladies- We're looking at using an egg donor I've had 3 cycles of IVF..the first got cancelled due to poor response, the second and 3rd cycles I got 3 eggs each cycle and none fertilised. FS isn't sure if its poor quality or if there's something wrong we now have to complete 1 cycle of Natural IVF and we'll be released for ED cycles. We have 2 kids a DD 15 and DS 14, I did have trouble conceiving them and after DS we just couldn't get pregnant again I'm now 37 and just want to move on and have a baby.

I agree with what Urchin said there was a single cell donated but she's creating her baby The laws are strange here in Australia and we would have to use a known donor..which we don't want to do so we'll be going to Cape Town for our cycle. I was thinking about starting an ED thread in the 35+ section but doesn't matter now this is good a place as any

Welcome crystal. Sorry your previous IVF attempts weren't successful. Be really interesting to hear your progress with ED, as we won't be doing this for a few months as need to save up but at least we are sure in our minds about what we want to do, that's a start!!

Im so glad that this thread has been started!

I spoke to the clinic again and the nurse had spoken to the consultant who confirmed that he only advised us to try with our eggs one more time as we had a funded cycle left. So, if we lose an appeal for our last go then we should be considering using a donor egg.

Hope you ladies have a good weekend xxxx