What Happens During the Egg Donation Process? From First Appointment to Retrieval

Egg donation is a process that stretches over weeks, filled with clinic visits, hormone treatments, and regular health check-ins. If you’ve ever considered donating, the thought of what happens between your first inquiry and the day of retrieval probably came to mind. You ask your: What tests am I going to face? How long does each phase take? How much of my time do I need to spend on this? What can I expect physically and emotionally from this? Fortunately, this guide has the answer to all of these questions. So, without any further ado, let us walk through the entire egg donation process chronologically and help you make up your mind about it.

Initial enquiry and eligibility assessment

When they first start their journey, most women reach out online or phone their clinic of choice directly to learn about egg donation. Following this comes a screening process to determine whether you can actually donate eggs or not.

For most clinics, you need to be between 18 and 35 to be eligible to donate. After that, clinics look for women who don’t smoke, maintain a healthy weight, and have no significant medical conditions that could complicate the process or affect egg quality. If you don’t meet these benchmarks, chances are that you may be disqualified right away.

During your first consultation, you should expect a thorough review of your medical history. This includes past surgeries, current medications, and any chronic conditions. Your family background is also taken into consideration, as any inherited or genetic condition can be an absolute dealbreaker.

These early conversations not only help the clinic assess your suitability, but they also give you a chance to ask questions and understand what lies ahead. If you’re exploring egg donation in London, many clinics offer initial such consultations at no cost, allowing you to gather information easily before committing to the process.

Fertility testing phase

Once the initial evaluation is completed, doctors move on to a series of medical tests to understand your reproductive health. As with the previous stage, these tests are carried out step by step rather than all at once.

The first tests performed are hormonal blood tests, and their purpose is to check your ovarian reserve, meaning how capable the ovaries currently are at producing eggs. By using indicators such as AMH (anti-Müllerian hormone) and FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone), the doctors gain a fairly accurate understanding of overall reproductive capacity.

After the blood tests, an ultrasound examination is usually performed. This allows doctors to directly observe the ovaries, count the antral follicles – small sacs that contain immature eggs – and check for any issues that could complicate donation.

Next, a comprehensive screening for infectious diseases is conducted. Using blood samples, doctors test you for HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, syphilis, and other infections. In some cases, genetic testing may also be added, especially if you have a family history of inherited conditions or if such information is not readily available.

Given the number of tests involved, you may wonder why they are not all done at the same time. The reason is straightforward: each test builds on the results of the previous one, allowing doctors to assess eligibility as thoroughly as possible. If no issues are found, you can then proceed to the actual procedure.

Hormonal stimulation and monitoring phase

This is where the process actually begins, and things become a little more intensive. Since a typical monthly cycle produces only one egg, getting more for donation basically means doctors will need to stimulate your ovaries first. To this end, hormonal shots are used to prompt the ovaries to produce multiple eggs at once.

These stimulation phases typically go for 10 to 14 days. During this, you’ll need to keep administering hormone shots to your belly area, as prescribed by the doctors. These injections contain synthetic hormones that encourage multiple follicles to mature simultaneously.

This stage may feel overwhelming at first, but most people adapt to it rather quickly. Plus, thanks to clear instructions from the medical staff and the relatively painless injection routine, this phase will go by like a breeze.

One thing you will need to do is check in for regular monitoring appointments. These include blood tests to monitor hormone levels and ultrasound scans to assess follicle development. With these details, clinics fine-tune medication doses so the ovaries respond just enough to mature properly.

As you may have guessed already, this stage asks you to be a bit flexible with your schedule. These appointments tend to occur quite frequently – almost every other day, in fact. But this is simply to minimise any risk factor and to keep the process tailored to your body’s response.

Egg retrieval procedure and immediate recovery

Around 36 hours following the last hormone shot you receive, the doctors will begin to harvest mature eggs from your system. On the day itself, you’ll arrive at the clinic for a procedure that will not take more than 20 to 30 minutes of your time.

At the start of this process, you’ll be given sedation or light anaesthesia so that you don’t feel any discomfort during retrieval. The doctor will use a thin needle, guided by ultrasound, to extract eggs from your ovaries through the vaginal wall. While the lead performs the procedure, the medical staff will closely monitor it, using real-time scans to ensure accuracy. All in all, it’s a very easy method that avoids any cuts, sutures, and extended recovery periods.

Later on, you’ll be moved to a recovery room where you’ll need to stay for another one or two hours. During this time, you’ll likely experience some cramps and bloating – but don’t worry, as both of these effects will be gone in a day or so. In fact, you’ll likely be able to resume most of your normal activities within 24 to 48 hours of the procedure, though you’ll need to avoid all forms of strenuous exercise for a few more days.

Follow-up, recovery, and long-term considerations

A few days after the eggs are successfully retrieved, it’s time to focus completely on your recovery. Most clinics arrange another visit – one that happens about a week or two later – to see how things are progressing. Your ovarian reserve should be back to normal by now, your hormonal balance should have returned, your body strength should have returned, and any effects from the procedure should have subsided completely.

As for how the emotional recovery goes, that varies quite a bit from one person to another. A few may feel a deep sense of fulfilment after the donation. Others may feel somewhat melancholic or experience a sense of detachment. If you feel any heavy emotions brewing after the procedure, try to work through them via counselling.

One concern that surfaces time and again is how egg donation is going to affect a woman’s ability to have children later in life. As far as research can tell, there will be no lasting impact on your reproductive potential. You’re simply releasing eggs that would have been reabsorbed by your body anyway, so the whole thing will still feel natural enough to your body.

From a legal standpoint, do note that donors in the UK are not anonymous. Not only that, but children conceived through your eggs have the right to request your information once they turn 18. This doesn’t mean you’ll have parental responsibilities, but it’s an important consideration you should absolutely reflect on before proceeding.

Moving forward

While egg donation requires a bit of your time, commitment, and physical strength, it is also, at the end of the day, a very safe and well-organised process with support at every step. If you are still thinking about donating, take your time, ask questions, and seek clarity. When you are ready, remember that this process is designed to protect you while helping others build their families.