GYN CHRONICLES
Egg Donation
Dr. Maureen Owiti
R
ecently one of the major dailies
in Kenya carried a story on the
plight of egg donors. It may be a
controversial story but this is what comes
to mind at present moment.
Jane Mureithi (not her real name) is a
40 year old lady. She is currently on her
second marriage after the first ended in
acrimony due to lack of off springs.
Her first marriage was for seven long years
that initially started blissfully but when
a baby was not forthcoming there was a
paradigm shift especially after the initial
test and her first husband were found to
be fine. She had always had irregular cycles
and when she was much younger had been
reassured that the cycles would stabilize.
Treatment after treatment failed and soon
her husband and his family turned on her.
She was an outcast, the barren woman!
Her husband got a second wife who
conceived soon after the marriage and
then the physical abuse started. That was
the straw that broke the camel’s back. She
left and filed for divorce, which luckily her
husband did not contest.
She never knew that she would ever marry
again but out of the blues came Steven
whom she was very honest with from
the word go. She is among the lucky few
as 2nd time is a charm and she married
the love of her life, who has been very
understanding of her situation.
They have been married for years and have
had several procedures including IVF to
try and get a baby. On evaluation due to
her age and hormone levels and noting
previous failed cycles with own egg she is
advised the best option is a donor egg.
She goes through the donor profiles and
chooses one donor. The cycles for the
donor and Jane are synchronized and she
is down-regulated (her natural cycle is
stopped) with a hormone. She had also
been started on other vitamins and blood
pressure medication. On the D day her
donor starts menstruating and she is also
put on estrogen pills.
Jane goes for serial ultrasound scans and is
told her lining is growing well. Eventually
the donor has her egg collection and Steve
Being a fertility specialist I feel egg do-
nation offers a solution to some women,
noting that very few women, even those
who are advised, opt for this method and
should be left as an option as we increase
the safety for donors and advocate for
the rights of both the donors and recip-
ients.
14
MAL34/20 ISSUE
provides the sperm.
On the next day they are informed that
there are 14 fertilized embryos that are
doing well and on day 3; 12 embryos are
growing. A decision to freeze 10 and
transfer 2 embryos is made. Then sets in
progesterone injections, pessaries, steroids,
and a long 14 days.
On the way to the hospital for pregnancy
check with the beta HCG blood test she
is nervous and a long 2 hours before the
news. The doctor asks what she thinks the
results are and she is honest she is praying
it is positive.
Fortunately she was positive and that
marked the end of one long chapter and
the beginning of yet another long journey.
Nine months to be precise, Jane and
Steven were blessed with a bouncing baby
girl after an elective Caesarean section.
Jane is lucky and if not for the help of the
donor her only other option would have
been to adopt.
Becoming an egg donor is not a walk in
the park. The women chosen to be egg
donors have to fulfill very strict criteria:
be between the age of 18-35 (some
centers prefer 25-30); BMI should not be
more than 30; have a regular menstrual
cycle; have both ovaries; cannot use
contraceptive implants or psychoactive
drugs; lack of substance abuse in medical
history; no inheritable genetic disorders in
family history; and must have good and
healthy diet.
After a history has been taken some tests
are done on the ladies namely: HIV,
Hepatitis B and C, Syphilis (Treponema