WWYD: Frozen Donor Eggs

Twinkie0612

We have a unique opportunity pop up and I am looking for advice on what others would do in my situations.

The opportunity has come up for me to receive 12 mature frozen eggs through a private donation. It is amazing timing since DH and I have been discussing cycling with RBA using frozen donor eggs. We were interested in their guarantee/refund plan, but right now it would require a significant loan and it's just not in our budget right now. Even if we did RBA's single cycle, we would be stretching our budget and only getting 6 eggs. Right now we could afford a cycle with our local clinic and I would think that a cycle with frozen eggs should be a little cheaper since we won't need an ER.

I met with my RE today and he threw me a curve ball. His first suggestion was cycling with SG since that is where the eggs were frozen and it might be cheaper than shipping the eggs and cycling with my clinic. I hadn't really considered this option. The biggest reason we were hoping to cycle locally was because my husband doesn't get much PTO and we already did an out of state treatment cycle this spring and will be traveling to Chicago for our appointment with Dr. KK in August. Oh and to top it off DH is off of work this week because of a slipped disc in his back, I'm hoping he will be back to work next week. If traveling for our cycle is the best option, I'm sure we could make it work though. My RE doesn his IVF cycles with SIRM, so I am not worried about lab quality.

I guess my question is, what would you ladies do? I am going to go ahead and price out both options, but my gut is saying cycle locally. I am having a hard time following my gut though, since it told me to try donor embryos and pick the donors we picked and that cycle was a flop.

Mrs.McIrish

Here are my concerns/questions/ things to consider.
Who actually froze the eggs??? Freezing eggs is hard. Most places totally suck at it. It's not the same as freezing embryos.
2) if you ship to local RE, do they have any experience thawing eggs? Again, tough process that most do not know how to do without ruining them. Just for illustration, my first DE clinic was trying to develop a frozen egg bank. To date, they have zero success (ie no live babies) and that was 2 yrs ago. If you aren't paying for it and want to try, I guess it's ok but I wouldn't have high hopes. I hate all these places telling young women to freeze eggs and they think they have an insurance policy for later. What a shock when the eggs don't thaw right or nothing can be fertilized, or only grow a few cells.

daydreamer34254

Hey! Don't be so hard on your gut over there! I think your intuition is your best guide in all of this. It is so sad that your first batch of snowflakes didn't pan out, but you can't blame yourself for trying.

I'd be curious to see what the side-by-side costs would be for local vs. SG. If it is significant one way or the other, then I'm willing to bet you'll make it work. If it turns out the costs are comparable, then go with what is most comfortable (local).

To be honest, if it were me, I'd accept the egg donation and do it where it is either cheaper or local if it's comparable. But I'd wait to do a transfer until after the appointment with Dr. KK. By the time all the legal stuff goes through and you actually have the opportunity to cycle, it'll probably be a matter of waiting one or two cycles more. I'd be curious to see what Dr. KK has to say for you.

Twinkie0612

These eggs were frozen (vitrified) at Shady Grove last year, their cycle was cancelled due to no sperm. As far as my clinic goes I know they advertise egg freezing, but I am not sure how many frozen egg cycles they have done, probably not many.

Another option would be looking into cycling with RBA in Atlanta and seeing if we can bring our extra eggs with us.

daydreamer34254

now that's interesting! (the idea to bring these eggs to Atlanta with you)

You have so many options in front of you. I really don't think you can make a 'wrong' move here. It sounds like you have to do your research and then trust your gut. I know it's incredibly difficult to have all these option and all this time where you can't do any of them right now. I'm sorry it's so confusing!

sorrellam30

First of all how awesome of a donation!! That's incredible.
Second I would price out both options (like you said) and see where you're standing after that. Unfortunately I've found that finances usually helps me make more of a decision. GL!!

ExoticAntibiotic

Lurking from IF

I'm a SG patient and have been told that they do not do cycles with privately donated eggs/embryos. We were interested in donating any remaining embryos (lol) to my cousin and were told no, she'd need to cycle elsewhere.

Twinkie0612

@ExoticAntibiotic‌ thanks for the info, that's one less option to worry about. I had talked with DH and we were pretty sure we were going to ship the eggs to my clinic anyway.

sarahjeri

What an awesome donation!  Excited for this opportunity for you!  I would go with whatever the best odds are if you have the option to go to mulitple places.