Donated Eggs Reception Method for Same-Sex Couples
Family structures are changing. Nowadays, technological breakthroughs have made families more diverse by making it easier to follow your dreams of becoming a parent. The donated eggs reception method, as an assisted reproduction treatment, is perfect for women in same-sex relationships where both want to be a part of the process.
Assisted reproduction
Nowadays, there are more people using assisted reproduction treatments (ART) than before. Many women are choosing to become mothers at a much later age.
Besides, the traditional family structure has become much more diverse like families of single parents or gay and lesbian partners. Reproductive treatments have evolved with the latest technological advances, apt for every person’s specific condition.
The most widely-used methods of ART are in vitro fertilization (IVF) and artificial insemination (AI). However, there is another procedure that offers a great advantage to lesbian couples.
What is the Donated Eggs Reception method?
The Donated Eggs Reception method is an assisted reproductive treatment for lesbian couples so both can be part of the pregnancy process.
Both women have an active role in the process. One of the women will be the eggs donor and the genetic mother. The other woman receives the fertilized eggs, formed by her partner’s ova and a sperm donor. This second woman will be the gestational mother; she’ll become pregnant and give birth to the couple’s child.
Who can opt for the Donated Eggs Reception method?
- By their own accord. When both women would like to share motherhood and have an active and joint role in creating this new life.
- For medical reasons. When one of the women has reproductive problems like a lack of oocytes of their own, hormonal disorders or risk of transmitting hereditary diseases to the child.
- Legal requirements. In certain countries, only women who are legally married can apply for this method. On the other hand, this makes it easier to legally claim the child has two mothers.
The role of the genetic mother
The woman who donates her eggs has to go through an ovarian stimulation treatment of daily injections. During this hormonal treatment, that can last between 10 or 20 days, the woman can produce several eggs at the same time, instead of just one, like she naturally would.
This is very helpful because it allows for several insemination attempts without having to go through treatment again.
After this, and once the eggs have the size and numbers necessary, she’s given one dose of hCG to make the eggs mature enough. After 36 hours, the eggs are extracted through a puncture.
The extraction process involves a painless procedure, that lasts around 15 minutes. This is a surgery, under general anesthesia, and involves introducing a tube through the vaginal canal.
Once the eggs are extracted, they’re inseminated, in vitro, with donor sperm. Then, the embryos spend three to five days under observation and are classified in order to select the most adequate.
The role of the gestational mother
While her partner’s going through the ovarian stimulation, the gestational mother goes through estrogen and progesterone therapy. This allows for the right endometrial thickness to improve the chances of implantation of the embryo.
Once the endometrial wall’s prepared, the best embryo gets transferred to the uterine cavity. This is a quick and painless process that’s done through a tube and doesn’t require anesthesia or post-op care.
After the transference, approximately 11 days later, if a pregnancy test goes positive, this means the procedure is done. Later on, your gynecologist takes it from there.
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- Marcos, C., Dolz, M., Abad de Velasco, L., & Bonilla-Musoles, F. (2006). Influencia del grosor endometrial en la aparición de gestación ectópica tras un procedimiento de fecundación in vitro-TE. Rev Iberoamericana Fertil, 23, 349-354.
- Kushner-Dávalos, L. (2010). La fertilización in vitro: beneficios, riesgos y futuro. Revista Científica Ciencia Médica, 13(2), 77-80.