Today I had my pre-screening consultation for egg donation with the London Egg Bank. I have thought about donating my eggs for a while now so I thought it was finally time to research it further.
Initially when I contacted companies, many said they were not accepting new donations which I was pretty surprised at. But I received a call the other day from the clinic and they asked me to come in for a meeting.
I found out so much information today and they naturally had lots of questions for me too. They asked for in-depth information about my family medical history and I honestly didn't have a clue - I even struggled to know how many cousins I have and their ages. So I've now been left with some homework to complete.
They explained the whole process, it's very thorough. There will be lots of screen on me to check my genetics are healthy. Although I dislike needles, it will be good for me to have a full screening. If they find anything, they will let me know.
A selfish reason for me wanting to donate, is that I will get the opportunity to check if I am fit and healthy. And if the time is right in the future for me, then perhaps I will one day be a Mother.
The main reason why I want to donate is because I have seen the struggle of some of my friends to fall pregnant. I would love the opportunity to help create the gift of life for someone who is so desperate to have a baby.
I am a little worried about how much time the whole process will take. They did explain that they would try to schedule appointments around my work commitments so hopefully it shouldn't affect things too much.
I would need to have the day off work when they actually harvest the eggs - that's if it even gets that far.
For some reason I thought they would just harvest the eggs, freeze them and then use them when someone needs them. But they actually 'match' you with a recipient so as soon as they are taken from me, they are then fertilised and implanted into the potential new Mum.
I have to admit, I was a little overwhelmed at the thought that I would know that someone was pregnant with my donated eggs. That sounds pretty silly but I figured if its sometime in the future - I wouldn't know when.
They also explained that I would be informed if a child is born as a result of my donation. They will also tell me the sex and the date of birth.
I'm trying to see it as it may be my eggs helping to produce the little life, but it would not be possible without the sperm and the mothers bloody running through that babies veins. I am only one part of the process.
When I spoke a little more to my Mum about this, she was still pretty upset. She said she hated the thought of 'Little becky's' out there that she would not know. They wouldn't be little Becky's - only a little part of me.
Thinking of it like that though, I wonder if the child would look like me? I assumed not but I guess they may have my eyes or my nose (lucky them as I have a great nose!). Perhaps they would look more like the father...
Although this consultation gave me so much to think about, I do really want to do it. Some people only ever want to be a Mother (like my lovely sister) and the ability to help them achieve this would be incredibly rewarding.
Another slight concern though is the fact that the child would have the right to contact me once they reach the age of 18. I would think though that they could not possible want to contact me for anything negative - surely?
So it looks like 2016 may be a very exciting year for some potential families out there. They say life is a journey, it looks like I took the first steps today to potentially help create a new life.
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