Authored by Dr. Deborah Simmons

I have been meeting with many intended parents lately who seek to use in-vitro fertilization (IVF) with anonymous donor eggs.  Donor eggs "reset" fertility treatment, offering new hope of successful pregnancy, after often years of procedures without pregnancy.  While my clients are comfortable with the idea of third party reproduction, they often worry about how to tell the child or children about having been born from  donor eggs.  From the adoption world, we have learned that telling the child's adoption story early allows the child to incorporate the information in a natural, developmental way.  The same applies to a child born from donor eggs.   With young children, parents often use gardening metaphors (e.g., "A kind young woman offered her seeds to help our family's garden grow.  You are the beautiful flower who grew!)  There is no right or wrong  way to tell the story.  Parents need only to trust themselves and their child(ren) in an atmosphere of love.  Here is a video of a young woman born from donor eggs talking about her experience.