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Hi Everyone!
I'm new to this site, and just wanted to start a forum to talk about what everyone's personal experiences have been with agencies and clinics they've worked with as surrogates/egg donors. I've been an egg donor for a few years now and have worked with two clinics in my local area and one agency outside my area. I know that everyone has their own opinion about what is better, agency or clinic, but I must say that personally I feel that an agency is the best way to go. Honestly, I'm really disappointed that I first chose to work with clinics directly rather than have an agent.
My experiences working with clinics was pretty trial by fire. No amount of reading online prepared me some of the issues I encountered with these clinics. The first allowed me to go through back-to-back donations with only one menstrual cycle in between for 3 cycles. This was not easy on my body at all, and I learned later that doctors are not supposed to do that to donors.
The clinic also refused to pay me more than $7000 for donations after the first 3, even though my donations had proven to be successful and I had accepted only $6000 for them. It was very insulting and was the last straw for me working with them.
The second clinic I worked with over stimulated me horribly. I was so very uncomfortable during the whole process, and was very frustrated by the lack of communication and explanation about drug doses and follicle count and size allowed to me by the doctors. On the 9th day of being on the fertility drugs, I came to the clinic for monitoring and was told they wanted to continue going for another couple of days. They decided this even though I explained to them my discomfort, which well exceeded what had experienced in my past donations, and they continued to not allow me to know the follicle count and sizes. At that point I made the decision and told them that they would either schedule me to take the trigger shot, and allow me to donate in the next 2 days, or I would walk away from the donation; reluctantly they agreed. On top of that, the anesthesiologist administered too low a dose of propofol during the retrieval and I woke up. Unbelievable!!
After that donation I was almost done for good with donating, but decided to give an agency a try because I had heard good things about others experiences with them.
From the first phone call with her I felt so much better about continuing forward with donating. She was so knowledgeable and understanding of my concerns, and assured me that I would never experience anything like what I had in the past working with her. So, I signed on for another donation with her. Start to finish, the experience working with her throughout a donation was 100% different from working with the clinics. She made sure that everything I needed was always taken care of, and all my questions were always answered immediately. She worked directly with the doctor, making sure that drug doses were kept at a safe and comfortable level, the doctor always contacted me at reasonable times with dosage instructions, my travel expenses and accommodations were well above acceptable, and my compensation was at the highest appropriate level.
Overall, my time working with her as a donor as been the experience I originally hoped for. I trust her completely working with me on my last donation as well as working with my friends and relatives who are also interested in egg donation and surrogacy. I know in her care, they will have nothing to worry about, and never experience the awful things I did.
If any of you have experienced similar to me, I'd love to hear about it on this forum.
You will no doubt immediately feel that you have an advocate in your corner when you talk to her. Please let her know that you heard about her from me (Carly). It would definitely put a smile on her face.
I'm new to this site, and just wanted to start a forum to talk about what everyone's personal experiences have been with agencies and clinics they've worked with as surrogates/egg donors. I've been an egg donor for a few years now and have worked with two clinics in my local area and one agency outside my area. I know that everyone has their own opinion about what is better, agency or clinic, but I must say that personally I feel that an agency is the best way to go. Honestly, I'm really disappointed that I first chose to work with clinics directly rather than have an agent.
My experiences working with clinics was pretty trial by fire. No amount of reading online prepared me some of the issues I encountered with these clinics. The first allowed me to go through back-to-back donations with only one menstrual cycle in between for 3 cycles. This was not easy on my body at all, and I learned later that doctors are not supposed to do that to donors.
The clinic also refused to pay me more than $7000 for donations after the first 3, even though my donations had proven to be successful and I had accepted only $6000 for them. It was very insulting and was the last straw for me working with them.
The second clinic I worked with over stimulated me horribly. I was so very uncomfortable during the whole process, and was very frustrated by the lack of communication and explanation about drug doses and follicle count and size allowed to me by the doctors. On the 9th day of being on the fertility drugs, I came to the clinic for monitoring and was told they wanted to continue going for another couple of days. They decided this even though I explained to them my discomfort, which well exceeded what had experienced in my past donations, and they continued to not allow me to know the follicle count and sizes. At that point I made the decision and told them that they would either schedule me to take the trigger shot, and allow me to donate in the next 2 days, or I would walk away from the donation; reluctantly they agreed. On top of that, the anesthesiologist administered too low a dose of propofol during the retrieval and I woke up. Unbelievable!!
After that donation I was almost done for good with donating, but decided to give an agency a try because I had heard good things about others experiences with them.
From the first phone call with her I felt so much better about continuing forward with donating. She was so knowledgeable and understanding of my concerns, and assured me that I would never experience anything like what I had in the past working with her. So, I signed on for another donation with her. Start to finish, the experience working with her throughout a donation was 100% different from working with the clinics. She made sure that everything I needed was always taken care of, and all my questions were always answered immediately. She worked directly with the doctor, making sure that drug doses were kept at a safe and comfortable level, the doctor always contacted me at reasonable times with dosage instructions, my travel expenses and accommodations were well above acceptable, and my compensation was at the highest appropriate level.
Overall, my time working with her as a donor as been the experience I originally hoped for. I trust her completely working with me on my last donation as well as working with my friends and relatives who are also interested in egg donation and surrogacy. I know in her care, they will have nothing to worry about, and never experience the awful things I did.
If any of you have experienced similar to me, I'd love to hear about it on this forum.
You will no doubt immediately feel that you have an advocate in your corner when you talk to her. Please let her know that you heard about her from me (Carly). It would definitely put a smile on her face.