Donating Eggs: Pre-Egg Collection Advice

Egg collection is one of the most exciting parts of the donation process - it is when we find out how many eggs you will be donating.  

Here is an overview of what happens in the run up to egg collection, during the procedure and afterwards:

Getting your eggs ready for collection

Before egg collection can happen, your eggs need to go through a final stage of maturation, which happens through an injection of the fertility hormone hCG. We will give you an exact date and time to do this, and also tell you a date for egg collection.

We will explain what happens on the day, when to arrive and what to bring. You can expect to be with us for a few hours.

Egg collection day do’s and don’ts

There is nothing special you need to do before egg collection, except:

• You are not to eat or drink from midnight the day before egg collection because it involves using local anaesthetic. 

• You also need to arrange to be accompanied home on the day – you will not be allowed to drive. 

The egg collection procedure

On egg collection day you will be under the care of our Fertility Nurses in our private ward. You will be taken to our theatre where your eggs will be gently recovered via a very fine catheter using camera guidance.

You will be able to see what is happening on a screen throughout the procedure, we will explain what we can see and how many eggs you have for donation.

What happens afterwards

We will monitor you on our ward. You will need to have eaten and passed urine before going home. We will give you full discharge instructions, and explain possible side effects.  You may feel tired, bloated, have some mild abdominal pain and spotting for a few days.

You do not need to take time off work, but many of our egg donors like to plan a couple of days rest to recover. We will give you our emergency contact details in case you have any concerns, and will follow up with you to make sure you are well.

More information about egg collection

If you have any questions about egg collection, talk to our Donation Team on 0161 300 2734 – we are always happy to help.