DONOR PRE-SCREENING
Bundles of Joy donors are all carefully and thoroughly pre-screened including detailed questionnaires and interview(s). Donors will already have provided photographs which have been shown to our Loving Couple or Loving Mother. Results of the pre-screening process are used to determine if a potential donor will be a candidate for exhaustive testing which includes medical, genetic, gynecologic and psychological testing.
MATCHING
Once a potential donor has passed the pre-screening, her information is offered to appropriate Loving Couples and Loving Mothers for their consideration based upon their criteria and preferred donor profiles. Once a donor is matched, bundles of Joy begins their coordination and scheduling services as liaison between the donor, Loving Couple or Loving Mother and medical facility.
DONOR INITIAL TESTING
When a potential donor is matched with a recipient, a blood test is administered on a certain day of her menstrual cycle to determine if she should continue on to the psychological exam.
Once a potential donor passes the initial blood test, she is given a psychological exam by a licensed psychologist experienced in this exact type of analysis to determine if the donor is making a well-informed, reasoned and mature decision. At this stage of the process, potential donors must be completely clear as to their decision and its ramifications and emotionally without conflict. Now it’s just three months until implantation of your embryo!
DONOR MEDICAL AND GENTIC TESTING
The last step of the screening process is comprised of medical and genetic exams conducted by the reproductive endocrinologist. If the donor passes them both, she is ready to begin a donation cycle and is cleared to begin hormone injections to prepare her uterine lining and synchronize her with the recipient.
DONOR INJECTIONS AND PHYSICIAN MONITORING
For approximately 10 to 20 days, the donor is stimulated with hormone injections designed to cause the body to mature more eggs than normal. These eggs would ordinarily remain immature and be eliminated as part of a normal period. During this stimulation phase, the donor is monitored by the reproductive endocrinologist with ultrasound exams and blood tests. At the end of this preparatory timeframe, a final injection is scheduled to prepare all mature eggs for the retrieval procedure.
RETRIEVAL, FERTILIZATION AND REIMPLANTATION
After the last injection, an anesthesiologist will sedate the donor and the reproductive endocrinologist will retrieve all of the donor’s mature eggs. After the retrieval, the recipient’s male partner (or sperm donor) provides sperm and the eggs are fertilized and incubated while they mature. After the fertilized eggs have developed into embryos over several days, a small number of them (usually two) are selected and implanted in the recipient’s womb to develop as a normal pregnancy. Unused embryos can be frozen for future use, donated or disposed of. However, most Loving Couples and Loving Mothers retain unused embryos as potential future brothers and sisters of their babies or for implantation in the event the procedure proves unsuccessful. There are many facilities that offer the necessary freezing technology at minimal cost.