Posts Tagged ‘egg donation agencies’

Meeting the Donor

Monday, May 17th, 2010

Part 3 in Brenda Fahn-Hardt’s informal discussion for Intended Parents.

Meeting the Donor?  There is No Right Choice.

iStock 000006638550XSmall3 300x199 Meeting the Donor

At some point during the egg donor process most parents consider whether or not they should meet their egg donor.  There is no right or wrong answer to this question.  Each case is different and depends on the intentions and expectations of the intended parents.  If their expectations seem reasonable and realistic, then meeting the egg donor can turn into a very positive experience.  Most of the time intended parents want to be able to meet their donor so that they have the option of telling their child at a later date.  Statistically, only about 20% of intended parents choose to meet their donor.  If you intend to tell your child that they were conceived with an egg donor and you want to tell your child something about the donor, then meeting would likely be a positive experience.  Many times parents to not have an interest in, or feel comfortable, meeting their donor, which of course should always be respected.  Each situation is different.

- Brenda Fahn-Hardt M.S., MFT

Beverly Hills Egg Donation Staff Psychotherapist

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Why a Backup Donor is a Good Idea

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

You’ve been searching for weeks for your ideal egg donor candidate, taking into consideration physical characteristics, fertility history, family health and educational achievements.  You’ve ranked your favorites, narrowed them down, slept on it and now that you’ve found your perfect match and are ready to book her, you can breathe a big sigh of relief and know that your search is finally behind you.

Right?

iStock 000002307811Small1 200x300 Why a Backup Donor is a Good IdeaNot quite.  Despite the best of intentions, something will go wrong in 25%-30% of all egg donor cycles and most, if not all of these issues cannot be predicted in advance.  Beverly Hills Egg Donation has an extensive in-house screening process and a team of donor reps who work diligently to ensure that our selection of donors is the strongest that it can be, but there is always the potential for surprises once a cycle gets underway.  As is the nature of working with a young woman in her early to mid- twenties, your donor will be having medical testing for a number of things that, if not for this donation, she likely would never have been tested for at her age.  There are also occasionally unforeseen issues that come up in the psychological testing, genetic counseling, or during the legal process.  In fact, this is why we utilize these professionals in the first place – to protect you and ensure that you have the best chance possible at a successful outcome once the medication phase of the cycle begins.  While our personal screening process is an initial review, we employ others to help uncover any health/genetic problems that may otherwise have gone undetected and confirm that your donor is psychologically prepared to donate.

This is why, no matter how perfect your donor may seem, we always recommend that you select a backup option before going forward with your cycle.  We have many repeat donors available (which lessens the possibility that something unexpected will come up to deter or derail your cycle), but even then if something goes wrong and you have a backup choice, our cycle coordinator will be able to help you move seamlessly onto that donor without using any momentum.  There is also no additional agency fee to switch donors; your full fee will be applied to the subsequent cycle.

Ideally, your cycle will be completed smoothly and without a hitch.  However, one of the best things that you can do to make your experience with egg donation as successful as possible is to remain flexible and be prepared for the unexpected – which includes having a backup donor in mind before you book your perfect match.

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Growing

Monday, February 15th, 2010

iStock 000004609436XSmall 300x199 Growing

Check out our freshly updated “Who We Are” page to meet the newest staff members to join the BHED team.  Liz Bader-Natal, Bay Area Coordinator,  provides support to Donors and Intended Parents throughout the duration of the cycle.  Sally Blackford manages our online server and has lent a tremendous hand in keeping day-to-day administrative work running smoothly.  And Diana Ashley, a previous donor herself, works in Donor Outreach to keep each of our donor’s profiles accurate and up-to-date.

With the increases that we’ve seen in every area – from donor applicants to interview, to cycles to manage and medical records to request (and fax, and file, and update…), these ladies have jumped in with both feet and done a stellar job helping our program grow with grace.

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The BHED Difference

Saturday, March 14th, 2009

So many BHED (Beverly Hills Egg Donation) donors are accomplished, well-educated young women, that we thought it might be valuable to give you some highlights now and again. Our list of dedicated egg donors includes women who speak three and four languages, college graduates with 4.0 GPAs, and women working on their Master’s Degrees and even PhDs.

Among our linguists, we can count Alexa #3127 who speaks Czech, Ticiana #2995 who is a native Portuguese speaker, Thomasina #4798 who learned Italian in college and is now fluent, and Natalia #870 who speaks both Russian and Chuvash. Asha #4746 speaks four languages – English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.

Our college graduates boast degrees in a wide variety of disciplines. For example, Lynn #4857 has a degree in Architecture, while Ashley #4593 graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.A. in Theology. Jeni #3093 completed her B.S. in Economics at UCLA, Lisa #3986 has a degree in Zoology, and Lynnea #4083 is pursuing her degree in Biopsychology.

We have quite a few donors who have completed or are enrolled in Master’s programs, including Terri #4759, Jennifer #4389, Hannon #4506, and Michelle #4577.

In blogs to come, we’ll highlight state-and-nationally recognized athletes, dedicated volunteers (including several donors who have started their own non-profits), state beauty pageant winners, professional models and much more! We continue to be impressed with the outstanding and altruistic young women that are part of our donor program.

-Alexa Abrams, BHED Director of Donor Recruitment

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