When people ask me about my experience being an egg donor, I get the question, “Does donating eggs hurt?” often. The short answer is, it didn’t hurt much.
I’ll walk through what it was like to donate my eggs. More specifically, I’ll identify any pain or discomfort I felt. This isn’t meant to sound scary but to help you make an informed decision about becoming a donor.
Potential donors should consider their pain tolerance when deciding whether egg donation is right for them. During the medical screening process, you might take blood tests, and later on there will be injections you’ll need to give yourself to stimulate your ovaries for donation.
I have moderate pain tolerance, and being a tad stubborn on top of that makes it easier for me to do things that are important to me but aren’t inherently “pleasant.” The one trait you will need for a successful donation cycle is motivation. This will allow you to make it through the egg donation process without any snags and make for a very positive, powerful, and fulfilling experience.
The first time I had to give myself an injection, I was nervous. I tried to psych myself out, but these needles, mind you, are tiny. I’m talking baby needles. So, honestly, I was being a little bit of a wimp.
But once I finally got the first injections out of the way, it became so much easier! This is also an area where it can help to have a little body fat on your tummy or inner thighs (the injection site decided by your clinic), as that will make it easier for you to give yourself the little shots.
You should barely feel the needles, but depending on what type of hormone therapy you are given, you may experience a warming sensation near an injection site. I never experienced bruising at the injection site or swelling, but there was some mild itching toward the last few injections.
All in all, not too difficult except to get past my mind block the first time. Not painful.
When you are an egg donor, your ovaries are stimulated by the injections to hold onto more of the eggs they would normally let go. Ovaries are simply used to having 1 or 2 eggs prepped for fertilization. But when you are donating eggs, the injections tell your body to hold onto as many eggs as possible. They say, “All of you stay right here and get ready for fertilization.”
So, it should come as no surprise that you will probably feel a little bloated and maybe a little tense around your ovaries. I only started to feel “bloaty” around the last day or so before egg retrieval (hello, yoga pants). The slight tension I could feel from the heaviness of my ovaries lasted for around a week.
During the egg donation process, you might need to make some temporary lifestyle changes. Here’s what to expect.
Some may find it “painful” to abstain from intercourse. This could be from personal desire, or maybe their partner gets frustrated with them. Communicate and make it clear that any intercourse during the ovarian stimulation process (3-4 weeks in duration) can increase your likelihood of becoming pregnant (with several babies, for that matter).
My husband was in the military, and when he was deployed, we could go for up to 7 months without intimacy. So let’s just say we had practice with celibacy. I also had 100% of his support with the donation, and he never made it seem like he was unhappy that we couldn’t have sex for a few weeks. It was only a few weeks—nothing you can’t get through for such a great cause!
If you are an athletic person, you’ll also have to abstain from many types of exercise. Walking is your best friend! That way you’ll be able to get out and move, but not risk displacing one of your swollen ovaries.
Honestly, the egg retrieval process was the easiest part. Retrieval was not uncomfortable or painful. Being the mother of a toddler myself, I looked at it as a chance to get an uninterrupted nap!
I was put under general anesthesia after walking myself into the retrieval room and getting wrapped in warm blankets. It was not scary. It was, dare I say it, cozy. Granted, I did have to get an IV, and I’ve never met anyone who said those don’t hurt a little.
But it’s just a small part, and you’ll forget about it as soon as it’s in there (at least I did)!
You’ll only be “under” for a short amount of time. The medical procedure usually takes less than 30 minutes, and once you’re awake, you’ll be monitored for a little while and then sent home. Also, you won’t be able to drive because you’ll still be a little loopy from the anesthesia, so you’ll get to be the passenger princess to your friend or family member bringing you home.
After surgery, I stayed in bed and slept the rest of the day. The day after, I was only sore with what felt like period cramps. Some Tylenol and a heating pad helped, but I stayed in bed just to rest up enough to go back to work the next day.
The second day after surgery, I was back at my desk job, drinking a lot of Gatorade and doing my work with a heating pad on my belly. All in all, I felt fine! I was up and walking around more, and by the day after going back to work, I felt great. I was ready to do it all again, and 2 months later I started another donation cycle.
I hope this helps you get a better idea of what being an egg donor is actually like; besides some minor temporary discomfort, it is so empowering and worth every step!
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The blog above was originally published on June 13, 2017. It was written by Emily, an egg donor in Fairfax EggBank’s donor egg program. Read her other blog about why she decided to become an egg donor.
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If you’d like to become a donor with Fairfax EggBank, we encourage you to review our egg donor requirements and fill out an application. Have questions? Take a look at our egg donor FAQs or contact us for more information.
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