A deeply personal journey- becoming an egg donor

I was unsure about sharing my journey to becoming an egg donor on social media; I wasn't sure how it would be received and it certainly has nothing to do with vanlife! However, over the last 24 hours I have been inundated with messages. Not only messages of congratulations, for which I am extremely grateful, but also messages of hope, of thanks, of sadness and of joy. Whilst we imagine we know how many people are suffering because of infertility issues, I believe now that we have no idea how many people close to us are experiencing these difficulties. The amount of people that have reached out to me overnight to explain that they too are suffering, tells me that we only know of a marginal amount. I have also been overwhelmed by the thanks I have received for speaking out about this topic. I have no idea how many people felt stigmatised and silenced- why is this not a common topic in today's society? So, I decided to explain my journey in this blog post and for a number of reasons.

I wanted to tell you that you are not alone if you are struggling with fertility. There are millions of women (and men) that are experiencing pain and suffering and, I am sure, you will have smiled at somebody in the supermarket today, brushed elbows with somebody on the train or been served lunch by somebody in a cafe, all of which are suffering the same pain as you.

I also wanted to tell you that its because of you that I have embarked on this journey. To give people who desperately long for a child, the opportunity to experience love and happiness like no other. A love that I do not take for granted. I know how fortunate I am to have two healthy, happy children who were so desperately wanted. I can only begin to understand how lucky my husband and I were to have them without intervention. My ovaries are filled with eggs that I will no longer use- what an incredible waste. So, I decided, just in time for my 36th birthday after Christmas (the cut off age for egg donation), to pay it forward. I only hope that at least one person or couple, gains lifelong love and happiness as a result of this journey.

So, where did I begin?

In September, after lengthy discussions with my husband, I carried out the initial consultations with a fertility company named Apricity. I took my own bloods and sent them away for genetic screening, and once everything was investigated and found to be fine, I waited for delivery of my medications and a date for my first scan.

Apricity are a wonderful company, I felt supported at all times. I communicated through the app with various consultants, GPs, nurses and admin assistants, I had video calls to explain every step of the process, what the plans were and to have tutorials for administering the drugs myself. I went to a clinic 45 minutes from me to have my regular internal exams, which were required to check on my ovaries, count the follicles and measure their sizes. Everything was carefully timed around my natural cycle and with a view to egg collection before Christmas.

On the 1st December, in the campervan at the Cotswold Farm Park, I carried out my first injection in my stomach of Bemfola, a follicle stimulating hormone. I carried everything in a bag I'd personalised with 'Little bag of Pricks', which felt very apt! Rosie watched the process and asked lots of questions- I felt very strongly about involving my children where appropriate. I then continued to inject myself twice daily- 8am with ganirelix and 8pm with Bemfola.

I had six scans in total, the last two being two days apart in order to measure the final growth of my follicles before collection- I had 21 follicles ready for collection, the largest of which measured 21mm. Once the consultants were happy with the growth, I administered the 'trigger' injection of 1ml Buserelin and 250mg Ovitrelle at exactly 11pm- 36 before my egg collection.

On the day of collection my aunt drove me to a London clinic and I was prepped and taken into a small theatre under general anaesthetic to have my eggs collected. A long needle attached to a camera probe is inserted into each follicle, from which the liquid containing the egg is drained. The process took 10 minutes and 13 healthy eggs were retrieved. Once I woke up and got dressed, we came home and my journey was over!

Now, we wait to hear if there are any pregnancies from my eggs and then any successful live births. I have given consent for ten of my eggs to be frozen (this is the legal maximum in the UK from any one donations) and consent for two of my eggs to be used for embryos. I will not be given any other information and I truly hope that any children born of my eggs will live a happy, healthy life full of love. When a child born of my egg is 18, they will have the chance to read a letter I wrote for them, which explains who I am, why I did this and the life I currently live with my husband and children.

And that is my story!

Every person deserves to know the true love of a child. And everybody deserves a family of their own.

Love, Hollie x

Find out more about Apricity fertility here: https://www.apricityfertility.com/uk