Intended Parents Process

Step 1: Register to Access Our Database of Egg Donors

To access our database of qualified egg donors you will need to register and answer a few basic questions. You will then receive an email confirming your registration. You are now free to peruse our selection of quality egg donors.

Step 2: Search Our Database of Egg Donors

At this point you will have decided what qualities are important to you in choosing your egg donor. What ethnicity and ancestral background would you like her to identify with? Is academic achievement, certain physical attributes, athletic prowess or IQ a particular priority? Would you prefer working with an experienced egg donor or is a first-time egg donor acceptable? Our search engine is designed to allow you to break down your search based on any number of criteria that are important to you. Once you find one or more candidates that you think are a good match you can save them into your “Favorites” which is accessible from your accounts page. Should you have any questions about a specific egg donor or want our assistance in any way in helping you select an egg donor we are always a phone call or email away. As a default it is our policy to place your privacy first. We will only contact you by phone at your request.

Step 3: A Match is Made

You have found a qualified egg donor that meets your expectations. We check her availability against your specific timeline. Once we’ve determined your mutual schedules are in alignment we ask that you complete the Retainer Agreement with J baby. We make sure you fully understand the terms of this agreement, including all fees, and that you are comfortable moving forward before you sign on the dotted line. At this point a trust account is established with an attorney who specializes in artificial reproductive technologies (or ART for short). Funds to cover the cost of egg donation are wired into this trust account that will be managed and placed under the authority of your attorney according to regulations established by the state of California. None of your personal funds will ever be placed in a J baby account.

Step 4: Your Donor is Medically Screened

Prior to being listed on our website, all of our donors have been pre-screened, meaning that they have completed a rigorous application process that addresses all aspects of their medical and genetic history. Ultimately it is your cycling physician who will have final authority to medically clear your egg donor to proceed to egg donation. Upon being matched, J baby will send a “Match Sheet” to your Nurse Coordinator at your IVF clinic. Your doctor will begin his or her due diligence with the compilation of a very detailed medical history of the candidate for the purpose of identifying upfront any diseases or genetic abnormalities that might be grounds for disqualification. The egg donor will also undergo a fertility evaluation, consisting of a physical exam, ultrasound, and other blood work to verify the capacity of her ovaries to produce eggs before being referred to a psychologist who will conduct an in-depth mental health evaluation to make sure she is mentally and psychologically equipped to proceed. Your doctor will also order a full assessment from an independent geneticist who will complete a genetic profile of the prospective egg donor to insure that she is not a carrier of any major disorders or chromosomal abnormalities. Both the psychologist and the geneticist will be available to answer your questions at your request. Your doctor will then review all the data if and if satisfied proceed to the final medical evaluation at which time he or she will issue a formal medical clearance. If there should be any red flags the doctor will discuss your options for proceeding either with this egg donor or starting over with a new egg donor.

Step 5: The Legal Process

Upon receipt of medical clearance, you will be referred to a lawyer if you don’t have your own attorney who specializes in reproductive medicine. This attorney will be responsible for drawing up the contractual agreements between you and your egg donor. To avoid any conflict of interest, your egg donor will have her own attorney who will review the contract and negotiate on her behalf. Your attorney will also discuss with you important legal considerations such as the disposition of any unused cryopreserved embryos in the event of a divorce or death. Once all the contracts have been signed your designated attorney will sign a formal “legal clearance” letter signaling to your doctor a green light to start the medical cycle.

Step 6: The Medical Cycle

After all the testing, screenings and vetting your egg donor is finally ready to begin the actual egg donation process which can be broken down into two stages. In the first stage, your doctor may prescribe a regimen of birth control pills for your egg donor and for the prospective mother (if doing a fresh egg cycle transfer) which is intended to help in the regulation of the menstrual cycles. Your egg donor will also undergo ovarian hyper stimulation where she will receive a series of hormonal drugs which will cause her ovaries to produce multiple mature eggs during her menstrual cycle. During the stimulation process, she will need to continue to be monitored with blood tests and ultrasound scans by the cycling clinic or a satellite clinic, if she does not live locally. Stage two is the actual egg retrieval procedure. Performed under mild anesthesia, eggs are retrieved from the donor using a tube attached to an ultrasound probe which suctions the mature oocytes one at a time from the follicles.