Split egg donation: what if there are not enough eggs for me?

Hello,

I’ve decided to start an egg donation cycle, but I’ve chosen split egg donation as I see it is way cheaper. I like the idea of sharing out the eggs of one donor to more than one recipient, it’s fantastic! I think it is more supportive with out pockets than other fertility treatments! I don’t mind sharing my donor with other women… all in all, even though the donor didn’t choose split egg donation, she may become a repeat egg donor in the future, so it’s inevitable that children from the same woman are born, either now or in the future. But my concern is the following: imagine the same donor donates her eggs to 3 recipients, right? But what if she produces less eggs than expected? What if I’m the last woman to receive the eggs and they realize there are no more eggs to share out?

Please, I’m freaking out!

Thank you,

Cheers

Dear Marlene,

You are right on your first point: even though you did not choose split or shared egg donation in order to avoid the birth of further children from the same donor, she could repeat as an egg donor in the future and therefore more children would be born. Some countries limit the number of children born from the same donor, like Spain, where donors cannot have more than 6 children, including her own children (e.g. if she already has 1 biological kid, she will be allowed to donate only 5 times).

Nonetheless, don’t worry, because clinics usually guarantee a minimum amount of eggs to each recipient, precisely in order to avoid the situation you’ve imagined. If you consider this is an important aspect of split egg donation, please consider sharing each one of your concerns with the medical team at your clinic. Besides, clinics or egg banks select those candidates presenting an optimal ovarian reserve able to produce a great amount of eggs. Should she turn out to be a poor responder, the most probable is that another donor were chosen for you, that way preventing you from not having eggs as to start the cycle.

I hope I have been able to help,

Regards