In this episode, we interviews Molly O'Brien, a renowned egg donor and surrogacy lawyer. Molly explains the importance of having a lawyer in the IVF process and how they provide independent guidance to intended parents. The conversation then delves into the importance of contracts through the egg donation process, including choosing a donor, setting up a trust account, and the medical and psychological screening of the donor. The legal aspects of egg donation contracts are discussed, highlighting the rights and ownership of eggs. The different types of contracts, such as anonymous, semi-open, and open, are explored, along with the shift towards non-anonymous donations. The episode concludes with a discussion on contracts with family members or friends as donors.

Takeaways

Having a lawyer in the IVF process provides independent guidance to intended parents.

The egg donation process involves choosing a donor, setting up a trust account, and undergoing medical and psychological screening.

Egg donation contracts establish the legal rights and ownership of eggs.

There are different types of contracts, including anonymous, semi-open, and open, with a trend towards non-anonymous donations.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Importance of a Lawyer in the IVF Process

02:24 Egg Donation Process: Choosing a Donor and Setting Up a Trust Account

03:19 Medical and Psychological Screening of the Egg Donor

04:08 Signing the Egg Donation Contract

05:05 Legal Rights and Ownership of Eggs

06:04 Egg Donor Liability Insurance

07:33 Different Types of Egg Donor Contracts: Anonymous, Semi-Open, and Open

09:28 The Shift Towards Non-Anonymous Donations

11:22 Contracts with Family Members or Friends as Donors

12:49 Conclusion and Call to Action

Julio and Richard interview Shadina Blunt, a surrogacy expert and founder of Surrogacy Miracles and the Miracle Family Foundation. They discuss Shadina's journey into surrogacy and her passion for helping others build their families. They also touch on the importance of increasing visibility of surrogacy in minority communities and the need for financial assistance for those who cannot afford the high costs of surrogacy. Shadina shares her thoughts on confidentiality and boundaries in surrogacy, as well as addressing concerns about exploitation of women in the surrogacy process. Overall, the conversation highlights the importance of education, support, and advocacy in the world of surrogacy.

Takeaways

To Donate to the Miracle Family Foundation click here

Author of the book

Miracle Motherhood: A Tale of Mary's Gift

Increasing visibility of surrogacy in minority communities is crucial to breaking down cultural taboos and providing support for those struggling with infertility.

Surrogacy agencies play a vital role in advocating for the health and well-being of surrogates, ensuring they receive the necessary support and care throughout the process.

Financial assistance through grants and foundations can help make surrogacy more accessible to those who cannot afford the high costs involved.

Confidentiality and boundaries are important considerations in surrogacy, but open communication and collaboration between surrogates and intended parents can help navigate these challenges.

Addressing concerns about exploitation in surrogacy requires education and understanding of the ethical and compassionate nature of the process.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Background

02:53 Becoming Involved in Surrogacy

06:10 Shadina's Impressive Resume

07:22 Being a Surrogate for Someone in the Limelight

09:15 Increasing Visibility of Surrogacy in Minority Communities

10:12 The Importance of Discussing Infertility and IVF

11:37 Supporting Surrogates and Ensuring Their Health

12:34 Confidentiality and Boundaries in Surrogacy

16:14 The Role of Surrogacy Agencies in Advocating for Surrogates

17:10 The Surrogacy Miracles Foundation and Providing Financial Assistance

19:12 The Need for Grants and Support for Minority and Same-Sex Couples

20:31 How to Donate to the Surrogacy Miracles Foundation

21:49 Supporting Individuals Going Through IVF and Surrogacy

22:25 Becoming a Surrogate and the Role of an Agency

24:59 Confidentiality and the Emotional Bond Between Surrogates and Intended Parents

29:14 Addressing the Pope's Concerns about Surrogacy

Sheryl Homa is an HCPC registered Clinical Scientist with a special interest in male fertility. She obtained her degrees in Biochemistry at Imperial College of Science and Technology and the Middlesex Hospital Medical School. 

She spent a large part of her career as an academic research scientist in the field of oocyte maturation, funded by the National Institutes of Health in the USA. For many years she served as Scientific Director of several fertility clinics in the UK working in both the public and private sectors. During this time, she became aware that male fertility is considerably marginalised and, as a result, opened Andrology Solutions in 2007 – the first and only HFEA-licensed clinic of its kind, dedicated to male infertility. 

She has collaborated on many research projects and is the author of numerous scientific articles, abstracts and book chapters in the fertility field. Her studies include investigating calcium signalling in sperm and, more recently, the role of oxidative stress and infection on sperm quality. Sheryl has been responsible for introducing and CE-marking novel, state-of-the-art testing for male infertility, including a chemiluminescence assay for measuring seminal reactive oxygen species. Currently Sheryl is honorary Professor in Biosciences at University of Kent, and consultant clinical lead for Andrology at The Doctors Laboratory.

In today's episode you will discover Anna and her husband Ed's experience through gestational surrogacy, what the process involved and what is her advice for those who are going through the surrogacy process. 

Anna and Ed, went through the surrogacy journey twice, the first time for their daughter Isla, born in India, and the second time for their twins Olive and Art, born in USA.

"What kept me going was my relationship with Ed. Infertility of any kind changes you as a couple. That level of pain and anxiety can never be forgotten but the resilience, the patience, and the strength you find together ends up defining your relationship. Most people who have been pregnant, say to me that they don't feel that they become a parent when they're pregnant. They feel that they become a parent when they have a child, and that is what we're talking about, having a child".

In today's episode you will discover the heartwarming story of the power of chosen family, and how our dear friend Matthew Brown @ukrules, shares his story on becoming a solo gay parent, and the wonderful story on how his friend Julien, decided to ask Matt to have the same egg donor, creating a wonderful extended family that no one could have ever imagine.

Matthew is a wonderful man whom has a passion for travel, and have a successful real-estate business, which allows him to be a stay at home dad, providing him time to be involve in philanthropy and a huge advocate of active kindness.

I hope you enjoy today's episode.

Today, we are super lucky to have a wonderful friend of mine, Dr. Sandy S. Chuan, to talk through all things egg donation, and egg freezing.

Sandy has been named an Exceptional Woman in Medicine 4 years in a row.

She's Board Certified as an OBGYN and a Board Certified Reproductive Endocrinologist and Infertility Specialist.

She has been named Castle Connelly's top doctor for 6 years in a row.

She's a partner of the San Diego Fertility Center and specialises in egg donation, surrogacy and complex IVF cases.

Dr. Sandy emigrated to the U. S. when she was 8 from Taiwan, is fluent in Mandarin.

I'm going to pick her brain on multiple things, so I hope you are prepared.

One of the most important parts of the IVF process is obviously eggs, and when I chose my egg donor, it was very much ah, you are really pretty, and didn't delve into more of the details around what it actually entailed to be an egg donor, female biology. I'm a gay man, and I don't, what I'd love to get from you today is a sense of how does egg donation happen?

12 years ago, the ability to find quality information on egg donation was limited. And I had no idea what I was doing. I spent many hours going through endless profiles of egg donors from different agencies online. Each presented their donors in a different way. Making it very dehumanising and complicated to understand. Choosing my donor, were around costs, and type of relationship with the egg donor.

Key Points Discussed:

Anonymous Egg donor.

Semi-known Egg donor.

Known Egg Donor.

Costs.

Pros and Cons on working with an Egg Donor Agency.

Risk of working with a First time Donor.

Experienced Egg Donors.

Medical Screening.

AFC, AMH, and STIs.

The least expensive way to find a donor. Is to work with a family member or a friend.

Pros and cons of using a friend or family member

In my opinion, the best option to keep costs down is to work with an IVF clinics, donor database. They have no agency fee. , donors have been pre-screened and generally the egg donors live close to the clinic. All of which can save you possibly up to about 30% of the cost of making your embryos.

Pros and cons of choosing. Through your IVF clinic.

Pros. No agency fees. Donors are pre-screened and costs are minimized. There is a limited amount of donors as the clinic will only recruit close to the clinic.

Unlike with surrogates, finding a donor through your clinic, doesn't have a conflict of interest as there are very specific medical data required to be an egg donor. And so that, you know, from the start, whether the donor is a good candidate or not, This medical data goes into her profile alongside educational and genetic history. And a lot more information so that you can make an informed choice. I looked at the photos and her profile and my donor is very Percy.

However, I also noticed how handsome her brother and father were. So I knew that she was the great choice for me.

At this point, I have my sperm and egg donor. And that was the part when everything lay within the hands of the clinic. All I could do was wait. It was emotional and unsettling. As the decision-making was no longer mine. When I chose her. I didn't really think about the impact of her being a first time donor. Making me question. If she. Had understood. What she was getting herself into. Especially with the injections or the effect that the medications would have on her. And if the expert grows successfully.

After 11 days of injections, they retrieved 12 eggs that were then fertilized. These were grown in the lab.

And on day five, I found out how many embryos were going to be frozen.

This was another few days of an emotional roller coaster, because one thing I had not understood. Was that every day they're in the lab. The number of embryos drops. I was terrified that all this time emotion. And effort would end up with me having no embryos. From the initial 12, it dropped and dropped. They thankfully on day five, there was a total of six embryos for freezing.

Why were the embryos frozen? There is no difference in success between fresh or frozen embryos. So the clinic focuses on the egg donor to maximize the number of eggs to retrieve without having to worry about the logistics around the surrogate.

By freezing embryos.

You get the option to do an embryo biopsy or PGT a pre-implantation genetic testing for. Aneuploidy. Which is where a few cells are biopsied from the outer cells of the embryo. And open up to see the number of chromosomes inside. If there are 46. Then the embryo is deemed chromosomally normal.

Why do PGT a. Two main reasons. Number one. Most miscarriages happen in the first trimester due to a chromosome abnormality. So, although PGT does not guarantee a pregnancy. It does minimize the risk of a miscarriage. Number two. By looking at chromosomes, you can tell if they are X, X, Or X, Y so you can tell this X.

1) I want to do a few things in my life. And one of them is empower people to make the right decision, especially around their IVF choices, because I felt that I didn't have that, and I think knowledge is power, and information just helps you get to where you need to be.

2) I find this incredibly fulfilling, helping people with a dream, I mean, not many people can say that their job is fulfilling dreams, I love what I do, and it's a phenomenal thing.

3) I want other people to experience what I've had, nothing makes a better family or a better kid than someone that really is sure that they want them, and is really ready to go the extra mile for those kids.

There's a lot of things, that are not fair and the level of injustice, especially living in Spain coming from Latin America.

Not everybody has the privilege to go to the United States to do the surrogacy process since is very expensive, and there are a lot of laws trying to block that.

I also want to make, egg freezing the new Botox.

Something that every girl gets at a certain age because it's normal. Like it's part of your life to have it done.

I want grandparents to say, I give you as a graduation present, freezing your eggs so you can have your career and you can have your life.

I want people to be able to start the process, not having to travel countries to go to the first seminar.

I feel like everybody deserves a family of their own, and the more that we can find one person saying, Oh, that story sounds like mine. I'm not alone, that's my goal, if I can just help one person do a link to their joyful process of creating a family, I consider it as a Win.

Here's the thing about miracles: they're expensive.

All the tears, the flights, the meetings, and the contracts have been leading to this: the day when the surrogate learns that she is pregnant with not one, but TWO babies.