IVF with Egg Donors: A Step-by-Step Guide

If you’re considering IVF with a donor egg, you’re not alone. Many individuals and couples turn to egg donor IVF when facing challenges like diminished ovarian reserve, early menopause, age-related infertility, or certain genetic conditions. At Atlantic Fertility, we walk with you every step of the way—starting with education and support to help you make empowered decisions.

Here’s a simple, step-by-step guide to understanding how egg donor and IVF treatment works:

Step #1: Selecting an Egg Donor

Choosing the right donor is the first—and one of the most personal—steps in the process. At Atlantic Fertility, you’ll be guided by a donor coordinator who helps match you with a suitable donor from our internal egg donor program or from one of our trusted egg donor banks.

You’ll review donor profiles that may include:

• Childhood photos

• Educational background

• Family medical history

• Personality traits

All egg donors go through extensive screening, including medical, psychological, genetic, and infectious disease testing, to ensure safety and quality.

Step #2: Syncing Your Cycles

Once you’ve selected your donor, both you (the recipient) and the donor will begin preparation plans:

• Egg donor: Takes hormone injections to stimulate the ovaries and encourage the production of multiple eggs.

• Recipient: Starts medications to prepare the uterus for embryo implantation, including estrogen and progesterone.

This process is called cycle synchronization, and it’s key to ensuring the uterus is ready to receive an embryo at the right time.

Step #3: Planning IVF Treatment

One IVF cycle takes approximately four weeks to complete once we find the right donor and ensure your cycles sync properly.  The time before the cycle while selecting your donor can be spent getting physically and mentally prepared for pregnancy.  During this time, your doctor will discuss your individual chance of pregnancy using donor eggs, and what you can do to increase your chances for success.

Step #4: Getting In-Vitro Fertilization

Once the donor’s eggs have been collected, the process is the same as doing IVF with your own eggs. An embryologist will combine the donor’s eggs and sperm in the laboratory. Once the resulting embryos have developed for a few days in the lab, your doctor will use a thin catheter to put one or two embryos into your uterus. The other good quality embryos can be frozen in case you want to use them in the future. You will take hormone supplements to support the uterus as the embryo or embryos implant.

Step 5: Pregnancy Testing and Next Steps

Approximately 10–14 days after the embryo transfer, you’ll return to the clinic for a blood pregnancy test. If the test is positive, you’ll continue to receive care and monitoring during the early stages of pregnancy. If pregnancy isn’t achieved on the first attempt, you may choose to try again using frozen embryos from the same cycle or select another donor cycle.

Why Consider Donor Egg IVF at Atlantic Fertility?

• In-house egg donor program for seamless coordination

• Thorough donor screening aligned with FDA and ASRM guidelines

• Personalized support from both reproductive endocrinologists and fertility counselors

• State-of-the-art laboratory for embryo culture and monitoring

• High success rates for donor egg IVF cycles

If you are ready to start the process of IVF with an egg donor, we can help. Contact Atlantic Fertility at (919) 248-8777 to speak with one of our staff members. We will be happy to answer any questions you have about building your family.