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The Matching Process

The following steps describe the typical egg donation matching process for Special Creations, LP:

1. Interested Egg Donors between the ages of 21 and 31 submit an application and profile to Special Creations. The application is reviewed and screened by our medical director to ensure that the donor meets our criteria. In order to qualify for our panel, the donor must pass an extensive medical screening through blood tests, psychological testing, pelvic examination, and ultrasound. This is unique to Special Creations as most donor agencies wait to fully qualify and screen the donors until after they are selected by the recipients. All of our donor testing meets and/or exceeds the requirements set forth by the Food and Drug Administration and the American Society of Reproductive Medicine.
2. Special Creations offers an online introductory database of our qualified donors that is available for viewing by potential recipients after registering with Special Creations, LP.
3. Prospective Parents that have signed contracts with Special Creations, LP and submitted a non-refundable agency fee to cover the cost of egg donation will then have full access to our donor database. We take pride in the exceptional quality of our donors and in our prequalification donor process. Prospective Parents will be able to review donor profiles with the utmost privacy. Donor profiles include information such as personal characteristics, photos, and medical history of the donor. No identifying information is released to the Prospective Parents, such as the donor's name, address, and contact information.
4. Special Creations will inform a donor when Prospective Parents have decided that they are interested in pursuing an egg donation agreement with her. Prospective Parents may ask additional questions of the donor that are not addressed in her profile.
5. Special Creations will then confirm that the donor requested is currently available and an agreement will be signed between the recipient couple and donor. The donation cycle can then begin and will be under the direction of the recipient couple’s reproductive endocrinologist. Our reproductive endocrinologist is also very involved in the stimulation cycle, closely monitoring and supporting the donor during the stimulation process.

Cycle Synchronization

Once a donor is selected, her reproductive cycle must be synchronized with the recipient’s. This is accomplished with the use of injectable hormones under the direction of the recipient’s physician for approximately 7 to 14 days. Additional blood tests are also needed to check hormone levels and to check again for sexually transmitted diseases as required by the Food and Drug Administration.

Stimulation

Once the donor and the recipient have had their reproductive cycles synchronized, the donor’s ovarian stimulation begins. This is accomplished with injectable hormones under the direction of the recipient’s physician and typically lasts 8 to 11 days. During this process, additional blood tests and ultrasound examinations are necessary to closely monitor the ovarian stimulation process.

Trigger

When the donor ovarian follicles are determined to be fully stimulated, an additional injection will be given under the direction of the recipient’s physician that prepares the donor’s ovaries to release the eggs.

Retrieval

The retrieval process is scheduled 36 to 40 hours after the “trigger” has been administered. Under anesthesia and guided by an ultrasound, a thin needle is passed through your vaginal wall by the recipients doctor into your ovaries, gently withdrawing the stimulated eggs. Deep sedation or anesthesia is used under the direction of an anesthesiologist for your comfort. The process of egg retrieval takes less than an hour at an outpatient fertility or surgery center selected by your recipient. After the procedure, a donor will generally feel groggy from the sedative and may experience some spotty bleeding and / or cramping for a few hours. Most donors return to work or school the following day.