When working with an egg donor and a gestational surrogate, the IVF cycle is split between two individuals. The first part of IVF involves retrieving eggs from the donor. The eggs are then combined with your chosen sperm in an andrology laboratory for fertilization. After fertilization, the cells are incubated so that can develop into blastocyst embryos, which are either frozen for transfer at a later date or transferred immediately into the surrogate’s uterus. If using a fresh egg donor cycle, the egg donor and surrogate’s cycles will need to be synchronized so that the surrogate’s uterus is in the optimal state for embryo implantation. If using a frozen donor egg cycle, synchronization is not necessary.
Although less common, some intended parents choose to work with a traditional surrogacy arrangement, which is when the surrogate is also the provider of the egg. In this scenario, the surrogate undergoes both the egg retrieval and embryo transfer procedures of IVF.