Medical evaluation and screening of the recipient
To determine whether you are a good candidate to receive donor eggs, you will need to provide the clinic with a set of updated tests. A thorough infertility and medical history will be completed. Once you receive the go-ahead you can begin the search for an egg donor. This is a private matter between you and the treating doctor or clinic.
The entire egg donation process takes approximately 3 months to complete
We have beautiful egg donors (inside and out!) from diverse race groups situated throughout South Africa. To gain access to our secure donor database and view these young women’s profiles, please register online (IP sign up form) as an Intended Parent. Once your details are verified, a link will be sent to your email address, enabling you to browse our list of active donors.
Our user friendly and easy to navigate website is designed this way to keep your stress levels down and allow you to focus on what is important: choosing the right donor for you.
Your appointed Sunshine Support Assistant is well equipped to answer your many questions. Someone will contact you soon after you register with The Sunshine Egg Donor Agency, getting to know more about you and supporting you in your search for a donor.
Please bear in mind that we might have several recipients that are viewing the donor profiles. To avoid disappointment we suggest that you select at least three donors of interest and we will confirm availability.
If you provide us with your criteria for an egg donor, and an adult picture of yourself if you so choose, we will search our extensive donor database and assist you with options for a suitable and potential matches.
After selecting a donor you like, we will approach the egg donor on your behalf to find out if they are keen to donate for you and/or if they are available. We are there to support you through the entire process, help you and keep you informed. A short personal note from you to your potential donor could help them make a quick decision.
Once your selected egg donor has agreed to donate for you, we will send you an invoice for payment of the once-off fee to secure the donor. Please see more info about our fee structure and what it includes. (Link to Fee & payment structure). The donor will no longer be available for consideration by other intended parents. The sooner we complete the formalities, the sooner your egg donor can be secured.
Sunshine Egg Donor Agency will then send a match confirmation to your treatment clinic, confirming your choice of an egg donor.
You have now completed the process of selecting an anonymous donor from our egg donor database. When you choose a Sunshine donor, you can rest assured that she has completed an in-depth questionnaire about her medical, personal, and obstetrical histories. Your donor will however undergo a medical check-up (screening and blood tests) with the clinic and a psychological screening before she is able to donate. Sunshine Egg Donor agency will arrange the necessary appointments for the donor as part of our service to you.
After you have secured a donor and all the required tests are done (2 – 3 weeks), you are ready to begin! Your treating doctor and the IVF coordinator of your preferred clinic will make direct contact with you to discuss your and the donor’s treatment plans. In preparation to receive donor eggs, hormones are given to both the donor and the recipient to synchronise the ovarian stimulation of the donor and uterine receptivity of the recipient.
While the fertility clinic screens your donor and also starts your medical treatment, we stay in touch, maintaining open communication and a continuity of care for as long as needed. We would hate for any uncertainty due to of lack of communication to add to your stress.
Once the donor and recipient are synchronized, further medication is needed to continue the egg donation process. The Intended Parent is placed on an oestrogen replacement program to prepare her uterus to receive a fertilised embryo.
Shortly after the recipient hormone therapy begins, the egg donor starts preparation for egg donation. She is given daily injections of follicle stimulating hormones (FSH) to stimulate her ovaries. These hormones will cause the ovaries to produce a greater number of mature eggs than would naturally occur.
The fertility specialist will carefully monitor the effects of hormones given to both the donor and the recipient to ensure that responses remain synchronised. The donor usually has around 3 scans during this time of stimulation to monitor the development of the eggs. The recipient typically has one or two visits to the clinic during the last week of treatment for scans of the womb lining in preparation for the embryo transfer.
After the donor has been placed under sedation, your treating physicians will remove the donor eggs using a thin needle inserted through the vagina and guided by ultrasound. The donor receives anesthesia via intravenous sedation to minimize any discomfort. This is administered by a physician who specialises in anesthesia. We maintain close contact with the donor over the next few days to ensure full recovery.
On the same day that the donor eggs are harvested from the donor, the recipient’s partner will provide a semen sample that is processed and used to fertilize the donor eggs. Once an egg has been fertilised with sperm, it becomes an embryo that is cared for in the laboratory for three to five days before it is transferred to the recipient.
Between 3-5 days after fertilisation of the donor eggs, the embryos will be transferred to your womb in a simple, quick procedure. Details will be provided by your fertility specialist.
Excess embryos of good quality and which are suitable for transfer may be cryopreserved (frozen) for future use.
You will have to wait approximately 12 to 14 days to find out whether you are pregnant! A positive pregnancy is confirmed via a blood test. This waiting period is the longest and hardest part of the entire procedure!