Audrey's Story: Becoming a mother through egg donation
Our Donor Concierge client Audrey is opening up about her journey to family-building and motherhood via egg donation. Thank you Audrey for sharing your story, and we are so happy to have helped you find an egg donor and build your beautiful family.
I was diagnosed with premature ovarian failure at 32, which was a confusing diagnosis to receive. I went through a round of IVF that was just a miserable failure, and then I actually got spontaneously pregnant several times, but I never was able to continue carrying the pregnancy. Staying pregnant was a real problem for me.
And then as soon as we started with donor eggs, it was absolutely "on." The first transfer worked - I have my son now, and I’m currently pregnant with my second child.
I’m 42 now, and I talk to so many other women about it. So many of my friends are also highly educated, professional women who are either waiting or didn't find a partner. Many of them have gone on to freeze their eggs at 40, only to find out it’s no longer an option. I find it so important to talk to them about the option of egg donation.
To be ready for egg donation, you have to get to the point where you're really done with trying to do it the way that you originally hoped it would be. You need to be completely done with the grieving process, ready to get serious and be a family and do what it takes. And that process is so long. Sometimes you have to go through really hard, terribly hard stuff, and you have to kind of be born again on the other side and then be ready for it.
I went into the transfer with a sort of spiritual attitude, thinking that this time it was going to work. I had no reason to believe I could stay pregnant at that point, but we'd also never had "good" embryos before. So they put in two, and told me it was working and from the minute those embryos went in, things went well.
The baby was always growing normally, the size was always good. My numbers were always good. I was shocked because I haven't had good news from a doctor in a decade. It was crazy. So it felt kind of meant to be.
And then I remember at seven weeks I was like, “Oh, this is it. I don't feel like I'm going to lose this pregnancy.” And I never did. And now I’m pregnant again! The second pregnancy has been different - it's been difficult. But I don't think I'm losing this baby either. I think we're good.
There were so many joyful moments, between getting the news, the first sonogram, and hearing his cry for the first time. Our minds were blown. I know everyone feels like that, but I didn't know how that was going to feel and so those were super memorable moments. I also get really excited every time I hear that someone I know has used a donor successfully after years of failure. I love it. I'm the biggest cheerleader of anyone making this choice.
Interested in building your family with Donor Concierge? Schedule your free consultation today.
