FAQ - Donor Eggs

These labels pertain to the donor’s CURRENT donor cycle. When it says donor “Available,” it means that they have not yet been matched for their current cycle. Waitlists grow fast, so it is important to check the portal every day for possible new donors. 

When the donor’s profile is labeled “Currently Matched,” it means that they have been matched with two recipients for their current cycle. These donors are still available in our program but have waitlists for future cycles!  There can be a maximum of 25 recipients on a donor’s waitlist before it is considered full.

If you would like your sperm source genetically tested, please let us know. The clinical team will upload an order to your partner’s patient portal to has his blood drawn with a local LabCorp of your choice. 

If you have banked eggs, or more than two donor egg embryos in your name, we will skip over you to the next recipient should your donor become available to be matched. We will keep your name on the list, so in the event you need to fall back on this, you will still have your spot. You would just need to check in with us so that we can make a note. If you have banked eggs in your name, but you are ultimately hoping for a fresh egg donor, please let your coordinator know so that a note can be made. We want you to be 100% satisfied with your final selection.

All donors are matched with two recipients for each egg retrieval cycle. If you are second on a waitlist and there are two recipients currently matched with that donor, you would be offered a chance to match with that donor for her next cycle, should she wish to cycle again. The exception would be if either recipient matched with that donor for her previous cycle did not receive eggs.

The donors can cycle up to 8 times. This does not mean they will cycle 8 times, and it does not mean they will cycle in consecutive months. After each egg retrieval, we give the donors two weeks to recover before we reach out to them to see if they would like to remain in our program.

We require our donors to be between the ages of 20 and 32 years old, which is considered the most fertile age. With that being said, we do not consider a 32-year-old’s eggs any less successful than a 20-year-olds.

Frozen Embryo Transfer Protocol:

• We can start planning your frozen embryo transfer once you have your embryos frozen and no sooner.
• Make sure you fill your prescriptions and have completed your testing.
• Contact the travel client team on Day 1 of your period (if you do not get a regular period, they will plan this date based on your availability). You can message them directly through the patient portal at: Global Travel – Questions. These nurses will plan your entire transfer, tell you exactly when you need to go for monitoring (bloodwork and ultrasounds) and tell you what medications to take and when to take them.
• You will be instructed to schedule a Day 3 ultrasound and bloodwork.
• Once we receive those results you will be given specific medication instructions and instructions to repeat your ultrasound and bloodwork.
• 7-10 days later:
  • If your hormone levels and uterine lining are appropriate, your transfer will be scheduled for the following week.
  • From period (or baseline) to transfer is about 3 weeks.

We require that our egg donors are between the ages of 20 and 32 years old, which is considered the most fertile age.  That said, we do not consider a 32-year-old’s eggs any less successful than a 20-year-olds. 

All donors fill out an extensive questionnaire about their background, including medical, family, and personal history. This is carefully reviewed by our team before the donor is deemed eligible to be in our donor program. 

We then perform a full donor exam which includes lab work, ultrasound, and genetic screening.  As long as this testing comes back appropriate, they will be listed on the donor portal and available for selection. Donors can cycle up to 8 times. This does not mean that they will cycle 8 times, and this does not mean they will cycle in consecutive months.  

For recipients, our Frozen Embryo Transfer protocol is typically as follows:

• DO NOT START ANY MEDICATIONS UNTIL YOU ARE INSTRUCTED!
• Estrace 2mg Qty 90
• Prednisone 5mg Qty:60
• ZPak 250mg Qty:1
• Endometrin 100 mg Qty: 63 (Prometrium is the generic)
• Progesterone in Oil 50mg/mL Qty: 2
• 3cc syringe w/ 18g 1.5in needle Qty: 20
• Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) 4.5 mg Qty: 30
• Tacrolimus (Prograf) 0.5mg Qty 32
• Sharp’s container

Once pregnant, you will need refills of: Endometrin/Prometrium, Progesterone in Oil, Estrace, Prednisone, LDN, and needles/syringes.

You will also need an over-the-counter prenatal vitamin with 1mg of folic acid.

Unfortunately, we cannot share the donor’s lab results. However, our donors must meet specific criteria before they are accepted into our program. We can share with you any positive outcomes that result from previous cycles; however, it is important that you remember there are so many factors involved in our outcomes. It is not necessarily donor egg quality; we must think about the health of the uterus, the quality of the sperm, and the age of the recipient.

At the top right-hand side of your portal, you will see the words “Available Donor.” This hyperlink will open a separate web page that shows a list of our current donors, including their personal history and photos.  To view a donor’s profile, click on the donor’s picture and then click “Profile.” 

The choice to receive the COVID vaccine is a very private and personal decision. Currently there is no evidence that proves that the COVID vaccine or any other vaccine for that matter has any effect on egg quality. Until there are studies that show otherwise, we will not be requiring our egg donors to report having received the vaccine. Currently, we continue to require a negative COVID test prior to their egg retrieval or proof of vaccination.  

** We will not share their vaccination status. **

The portal is not updated at any specific time of day, so it is recommended to check the portal on a regular basis.

Our program at CNY Fertility is and has always been anonymous. We will never exchange information between egg donors and recipients. If you are interested in an open donation, we suggest you consider using a known donor, an agency donor, or egg bank. Anonymity varies between agencies and egg banks, so you will want to look for a company that fits your needs.

Unfortunately, there is no filter or sort option available on the donor portal at this time.  Please keep track of the donors you have viewed and the waitlists that you are on.

For fresh donor eggs, you can be on up to three waitlists. Please make sure you are checking your patient portal daily, just as you would check your own email.  If you see a donor removed from the list, you are more than welcome to request to be added to an additional waitlist.  

Waitlists are a courtesy provided by CNY Fertility. We reserve the right to remove you from any wait lists once you have been matched with an egg donor. It is the recipient’s responsibility to check the patient portal for new donors added and current donors removed. You will be contacted should any donor to which you are waitlisted become available to you.

To be matched with an egg donor that is a positive genetic carrier, you either need a signed genetic waiver or your sperm source carrier must be screened, and those results need to be provided prior to making that match.

If your sperm source is your partner, he or you can reach out to the donor team to get genetic carrier screening ordered. This is a blood test processed through LabCorp.  As long as he does not carry the same genetic condition as the donor, you can proceed!

Yes, we have a banked egg list.  The banked egg list is updated Monday through Friday. The list is updated daily and frequently throughout the day.  There is NO WAITLIST for banked eggs as they are first-come first-serve. We will not hold eggs for any amount of time.  *Keep in mind that you must have banked eggs in your name before starting any cycle medications. You should plan ahead knowing that it can take our team up to 14 days to complete the paperwork and move those eggs into your name. 

WE DO NOT RECOMMEND YOU CHOOSE BANKED EGGS IF YOUR SPERM SOURCE IS COMPROMISED OR IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON PGT TESTING YOUR EMBRYOS.

It is your responsibility to ask for the banked egg list. 

Banked eggs are frozen in pairs. You must select an even number of banked eggs, unless there is only an odd number available. You can return unfertilized banked eggs for a $150 administrative fee. If you are looking for a specific donor’s banked eggs, we are happy to let you know a tentative date of an upcoming egg retrieval for that donor.

Our banked egg packages offer you 2 options:

1. If you are out of state and wish to have your eggs thawed and fertilized in advance, we can then freeze any embryos that result. This option is great for those that are travelling from out of state to ensure that you have embryos to transfer prior to booking travel.
2. Prepare your uterine lining for transfer then schedule your egg thaw and fresh embryo transfer once your lining is appropriate. This option is great for those that are within driving distance to one of our centers.

The number of embryos to be transferred will be determined by you, the physician and the embryologist prior to the embryo transfer to maximize the possibility of pregnancy and minimize the risk of multiple gestations. Patient age, infertility factor(s), embryo quality, previous failed cycles, and other factors are taken into account. Multiple pregnancies can be devastating to the health of both mother and children. To curtail the problem, national guidelines published by the Practice Committee of the Society in Assisted Reproductive Technologies (SART) of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) recommend limits on the number of embryos to transfer of which we adhere to.

You are more than welcome to consider outside egg banks or agencies. Those we work with most frequently are: Cryos, Fairfax, My Egg Bank, World Egg Bank, and Donor Egg Bank USA.

Be advised that you are responsible for CNY Fertility’s lab fees, along with the costs incurred from the facility through which you are purchasing eggs.

While a trilaminar lining is preferred, sometimes there are cases where we will recommend transferring without it being trilaminar.

Please reach out to our patient accounting team for up-to-date cost on lab fees, which include Frozen Egg Warming (up to 20 eggs), ICSI with the First Egg Thaw Cycle, Assisted Hatching, (1) Embryo Transfer & Cryopreservation of Additional Embryos with 1 Year Storage. 

The following are NOT included: Recipient Monitoring, Recipient Medications, Cryopreservation/Storage of Sperm, Pregnancy Tests and/or Prenatal Care, PGD/PGS Services, Intralipids and/or IVIG Infusions.

The agency makes the process seamless for you. You will need to reach out to the agency you choose and make your selection. Once you have selected a donor, they will send us information. Be sure to follow through with the agency every step of the way up until we receive the eggs.

Fresh Embryo Transfer:

• 6 fresh eggs with a fresh embryo transfer is $12,000.
• Each additional egg is $2,000 per egg.
• This would include 1 fresh embryo transfer, whereas if you have any additional embryos to be frozen, the remaining transfers will be frozen embryo transfers.
• A fresh embryo transfer requires a mock cycle to be completed.
• If you wish to have a fresh transfer, you must first complete a mock cycle prior to matching with an egg donor. The mock cycle will ensure your body responds to estrogen appropriately, which you will call on day 1 of your menses to schedule.  Once you are matched with an egg donor, we will prepare your lining while your donor is getting ready for her egg retrieval.

**You cannot do PGT testing if you choose a fresh embryo transfer.

Frozen Embryo Transfer:

• 6 fresh eggs to create and freeze embryos is $9,000.
• Each additional egg is $1,500 per egg.
• This means you will have a frozen embryo transfer. This does not require a mock cycle.

To be matched with a donor for fresh eggs, you first need to be added to a donor’s waitlist. The waitlist timing is difficult to determine.  Although donors can donate 8 times between the ages of 20 and 32, that does not necessarily mean that they will. Keep in mind that some donors like to take a break after a cycle so they may leave the program temporarily and return months later. 

You can be on three donors’ waitlists at a time. To be added to a donor’s waitlist, you need to message either the Donor Team group or your Recipient Coordinator to submit your request. Requests are honored in the order they come through and must be made through your patient portal.

Both a fresh embryo transfer and a frozen embryo transfer will give you 50 to 60% chance at success.

Once the donor becomes available to you, you will receive a message through your patient portal, along with a text message to your mobile device. Once you confirm your donor selection, and answer the questions asked to you, you will be officially matched!  

You should expect a message through your patient portal letting you know that your consents and financial contract have been uploaded with a date to which they are due. Please be sure to message your recipient coordinator once you have uploaded your signed consents. 

Once you officially make your selection, we will tell the donor she has been matched and ask her to contact us on Day 1 of her next period. Once your donor calls with her period, we will share with you her cycle timeline, including her baseline appointment and tentative egg retrieval dates. Updates will be shared through your patient portal.

Keep in mind our donors are placed on birth control for a minimum of 2 weeks in preparation for their cycle. The birth control pill also offers us flexibility in her cycle planning, as we need to plan based on the availability of our embryology lab.  We ask for your patience in this process to make sure that embryology has space in their lab to care for your precious embryos.

After your donor’s baseline visit, you will receive a message through your patient portal confirming that she is ready to move onto the next step.  After her egg retrieval has been officially scheduled, you will receive another notification (typically 48 hours prior to that egg retrieval). If your partner is providing a fresh sperm sample on egg retrieval day, his appointment will be scheduled at that time.

The day after egg retrieval, you will get a phone call with a fertilization report.  This report includes the number of mature eggs received and the number of fertilized embryos.

One week after the egg retrieval, Embryology will upload a report into your patient portal with how many embryos are frozen.

If you are doing a frozen embryo transfer, once you have embryos, your prescriptions for medications will be sent to a pharmacy, and you will reach out to the Global Travel Team, or your local CNY Fertility office, on your cycle day 1 to plan your FET (frozen embryo transfer).  

** If your donor’s egg retrieval was done in a different office, it is your responsibility to request shipment of those embryos to the office where you prefer to have your transfer. Payment is required and must be received prior to shipping. 

** If you do not get a regular period, please notify your nursing team, who will help you to plan for your baseline ultrasound and bloodwork. If they find that a period needs to be induced, a prescription can be called into your local pharmacy.

Our fresh egg packages are typically 50-60% successful. If you do not achieve pregnancy through your first donor egg package, you may be considering purchasing another package. Please keep in mind that in order to purchase an additional donor egg package, your account balance must be current.

All of our donors are matched with two recipients for their fresh donor egg cycles. Once each recipient’s package is fulfilled, any remaining eggs are then frozen for our egg bank.

Our banked egg packages offer a 45% success rate. From a package of 6 eggs, our goal is for 50% or more to survive the thaw, which we hope will result in 1 to 2 good quality embryos to transfer. Keep in mind that egg banking is a very delicate process, and it is normal to lose a couple of eggs in the freeze-thaw process. You should expect that these packages will yield a lesser quantity of embryos overall, so we suggest that you purchase additional eggs if you are hoping to bank embryos for future use.

No, there is no waitlist for banked eggs, as they are first-come, first-served. We will not hold eggs for any amount of time.   

***Keep in mind that you must have banked eggs in your name before starting any cycle medications.  You should plan ahead, knowing that it can take our team up to 14 days to complete the paperwork and move those eggs into your name. 

WE DO NOT RECOMMEND YOU CHOOSE BANKED EGGS IF YOUR SPERM SOURCE IS COMPROMISED OR IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON PGT TESTING YOUR EMBRYOS.