For Egg Donors
Recipient Parents FAQ
FAQs
For more than 25 years, Everie’s industry-leading team has helped countless parents grow their families through egg donation. We understand the process inside out—and are even revolutionizing it! Find out more about Everie, the egg donation process, IVF, and more in our FAQ.
Frequently Asked Questions for Parents
Everie is a pioneer in the fertility landscape, combining decades of experience with a fresh vision of what egg donation should be. We believe in thoughtful, forward-looking decision-making so that your future children can grow up secure in their identities and proud of their origins, with the power to learn more about their family history.
With Everie, you will find unparalleled support and expertise and our unwavering commitment to you, your egg donor, and the family you help grow together. Learn more about what sets us apart in the questions below.
Everie supports every person’s path to parenthood. Whether you are partnered, single, heterosexual, LGBTQIA+, facing fertility issues, or consciously choosing to grow your family a different way, there is a home for you here.
One of our proudest contributions to the assisted reproduction community is the concept of a Mutual Match™.
Traditionally, egg donors aren’t aware when their eggs are used or by whom. Giving both the donor and the recipient parents the chance to say “yes” to one another is the basis for our Mutual Match™. Egg donation touches many lives, and we believe each person should be considered in the decision—especially your future children.
Aligning with a donor about short and long-term expectations and feeling a genuine kinship with one another brings more confidence and warmth to a process that can easily feel transactional or antiseptic.
Everie encourages disclosed donation, which involves sharing donor-identifying information with recipient parents and children conceived from the donors’ eggs.
Our donors can choose the level of disclosure they are most comfortable providing, whether it is sharing all their contact information (“open ID”), giving a first name only (“semi-open ID”), or keeping their identity suppressed until the donor-conceived children come of age and request information about them (“ID release”).
We believe in the power of disclosed donation to create a strong foundation for a child’s identity. At Everie, we are working toward a vibrant, inclusive future where the next generation can know their origins without shame or secrecy and take pride in all the people who helped create their families.
Egg donation is the process whereby an egg donor voluntarily provides some of her eggs for use in another individual or couple’s family building.
The egg donor undergoes hormone stimulation to produce multiple eggs that are then retrieved in a minimally invasive procedure.
In a fresh egg donation cycle, these eggs are fertilized in a laboratory and cultured into blastocysts (pre-embryonic cells).
Recipient parents can freeze these blastocysts for future use, or, if they choose to have the donor and parent/carrier synchronize their cycles prior to the retrieval process, they can have a blastocyst transferred to the recipient’s uterus as soon as it is ready.
By contrast, a frozen egg donation cycle vitrifies (flash freezes) the retrieved eggs for use at a later date. Once thawed, the eggs are fertilized and undergo the same embryo development and transfer process.
Typically, choosing an egg donor involves reviewing donor profiles in a database and looking for someone who resonates most with you. At Everie, you can see photos and videos of our donors and learn about their medical and family history, education, interests, and more. You will also get to read in their own words why they are choosing to donate their eggs.
Please read our article about egg donor selection criteria to learn more about finding the right egg donor for you.
Everie thoroughly vets our egg donors. All of our donors are young, healthy women who have passed comprehensive evaluations of their physical and psychological health to ensure they are suitable candidates for egg donation.
Egg donation can involve either fresh or frozen egg donation cycles. Traditionally, these have been aligned with different egg donor program models: Egg donor agencies usually work with fresh egg donation, and egg banks typically provide frozen eggs.
Everie offers recipient parents the flexibility to choose the donation type that is best for them. Fresh eggs are more expensive and require greater logistical coordination but are available in larger (though irregular) quantities.
Frozen eggs, meanwhile, are typically acquired in batches of 6 and give recipient parents more control over the timing of their family building.
Everie offers three types of egg donation based on the level of identity disclosure that our egg donors are comfortable sharing. The different types are:
-
Open ID donation – full donor identity disclosure with contact information shared
-
Semi-open ID donation – limited donor identity disclosure without contact information
-
ID release donation – donor identity is concealed until donor-conceived children come of age and request information
We cover the different considerations for identity disclosure in our related article.
-
Egg donors typically do not have any parental rights over children conceived from their eggs. However, an egg donor agreement or other contract can help establish a recipient parent's legal parentage in a binding, written form.
Egg retrieval is a minimally invasive procedure that uses ultrasound imaging to guide the fertility specialist in collecting the eggs. The egg donor’s ovaries have been hormonally stimulated to increase her egg production; these eggs are aspirated through a thin needle and then placed in a culture medium.
On average, 10 to 20 eggs (or more!) can be retrieved during egg donation. Fresh egg recipient parents will get all the eggs, while frozen egg donations are divided into batches of 6 eggs and can be used by one or more recipient parents.
Frozen eggs are vitrified (cryogenically preserved) after retrieval, while fresh eggs are fertilized with sperm in a laboratory setting.
These fertilized eggs are closely monitored as they develop into pre-embryonic cells called blastocysts over 5 days.
Recipient parents can typically expect 30% to 50% of fertilized eggs to reach this stage of development. With Everie, we offer a one-blastocyst minimum guarantee for frozen egg recipients; if no viable blastocyst emerges from your batch of eggs, we will provide you with another batch of 6 eggs at no extra cost.
Using a thin catheter, the embryologist uses ultrasound imaging to transfer a blastocyst into the recipient’s (or gestational carrier’s) uterus. It will take nearly 10 days to discover whether the blastocyst has developed into an embryo and successfully implanted into the uterine wall, confirming a pregnancy.
Topics
Audience
Using donor eggs is a deeply emotional experience. Learn about this emotional journey, the key considerations to keep in mind, and how Everie supports you to ensure you feel informed and empowered in your path to parenthood.
Using Donor Eggs: The Emotional Journey
Parents
.jpg)
Discover what you should know about egg donor compensation, from how much an egg donor makes and when donors get paid to what donors use their compensation for.
How Much Does an Egg Donor Make: The Ins & Outs of Egg Donor Compensation
Compensation
Donors
How do you tell your loved ones about your egg donation? Dr. Sadaf Sahibzada with Embra Health offers guidance on how to discuss your decision and practical tips for telling your family, future partners, and future kids about your donation.
The Egg Donation Experience: How To Talk to Loved Ones
Donor Resources
Donors
What happens after you've generously donated your eggs? Learn what you can expect emotionally, physically, and interpersonally in this post from Embra Health's Dr. Sadaf Sahibzada.
Egg Donor Process: You’ve Donated Your Eggs, Now What?
Donor Resources
Donors
Using Donor Eggs: The Emotional Journey
Using donor eggs is a deeply emotional experience. Learn about this emotional journey, the key considerations to keep in mind, and how Everie supports you to ensure you feel informed and empowered in your path to parenthood.
October 10, 2023
Parents
