So here’s what I’m thinking.

I’m thinking this, not doing this.  It is an option, a possibility, an interest.  I know people would like to weigh in with their negative opinions, and really I’m open to all kinds of information, but I haven’t decided for sure yet.

I think I’m going to become an egg donor, and allow the infertility center here to ‘harvest’ some of my young, healthy eggs to help other couples become parents.

I want to be a mother so badly.  I want kids so very badly, the idea of being able to help someone who can’t… that is incredible to me.  Amazing to me.  I would love nothing more.  REACH is the name of the fertility center here, and they came to our clinic for lunch today.  I talked to one of the doctors for over an hour about donating eggs, the risks, the benefits, what it requires, what the rewards are.  I’m leaning heavily in favor of doing it!  The rep told me they have a waiting list of over 60 couples that need a donor egg.  Most of the couples that need a donor are older, and cannot conceive on their own – the longer they have to wait for a donor, the lower their chances are of getting pregnant at all.

It is a 14 day cycle of self-administered injections that ‘hyper-stimulate’ the ovaries, so they make more than the typical 1 or 2 mature ‘follicles’.  Around day 14 of the ovulation cycle, the eggs are ‘harvested’.  (Such a graphic word, but really very accurate.)  The typical donor cycle retrieves around 15 eggs.  It is entirely anonymous, and donors are compensated for their time, and of course for their eggs.

I would never find out if the eggs I donated actually resulted in a live birth, or even a pregnancy.  But I love the idea of helping someone else have a child that they want so dearly.  There are pros and cons so heavily in either direction… but I think the thrill and joy of doing it would greatly outweigh the other drawbacks.

That’s what I’m thinking.