My experience as an egg donor

One day at a routine appointment with a local gynecologist I found out that there was a possibility of becoming an egg donor, and since then I started thinking of those couples who miss one tiny detail for their happiness: an egg for an euploid embryo. I realized that I could help such people and I decided to try egg donation without much deliberation.  

I sent a questionnaire to a fertility agency, and almost immediately I was offered a donation program. My first exciting experience of donation was marred by the doctors’ neglect: for them I was rather an expendable material than a person with strong and sincere motivation to help.  

The next clinic I referred to was O.L.G.A. Fertility Clinic, and here I was in a comfortable environment, surrounded by friendly and smiling people who treated me with delicate care. In this almost homely atmosphere it became clear that they do a lot for people.

Hadn’t I met O.L.G.A. team, I might have given up on the idea of egg donation, because it makes sense to do good where everybody contributes and serve a common goal. I am glad to be a part of a team built up of people who can appreciate and respect the others.

My Vocation

I graduated from St. Petersburg State University, department of Philology and Arts. I majored in linguistics and cross-cultural communication. After graduation I happened to work at a private kindergarten, where I taught English to preschoolers. It was an extremely positive experience that led to understanding that I love children and enjoy interacting with them, teaching them and learning from them. As I continued working with preschoolers and gave birth to three kids, I realized how important everything related to childhood and kids is to me.

This understanding also developed due to my experience as an egg donor. I donated two times and in between, step by step, I got a clear picture of what egg donation was, who needed it and for what reasons. I learnt more and more details about the stages of preparation for donation, researched the medical side of the issue. And then in 2021, after another stimulation protocol, Anna Macarova, a donation team leader, offered me to switch to a donor expert position and to provide all necessary information and support in the process of choosing donors. Of course, I gladly accepted her proposal: it allowed me to continue helping people and use my knowledge of foreign languages.

As a rule, O.L.G.A. patients are people who underwent treatment at several clinics, but still have not reached their goals. I admire these people — they are brave, determined, incredibly strong and ready do whatever it may take on their way to long-awaited pregnancy and babies. They face a lot of obstacles and successfully overcome them. Sometimes a journey to a child takes years, which is why our patients are mostly of advanced maternal age. I know firsthand that they suffered from social blaming for a late desire to have children. This ageism is unacceptable and wild to me. Today’s attitude to a woman over 40 hurts me a lot. I want our patients to leave their memories of comments about age and missed opportunities behind the door of our clinic and enjoy the journey to their dream in the process of treatment.

What helps to reach pregnancy and livebirth is individual therapy and surgery or donor biomaterial. If couples or single patients are prescribed treatment with donor material, they book a meeting with me and at the meeting we discuss donation from moral and ethical point of view, and I give them all essential information so that they can understand how the donor selection process is organized. I also introduce them to our extensive donor catalogue and answer all their questions. After the meeting, I help our patients choose the right candidates for them. Each patient deserves the best, so I have an individual approach to everyone and I dedicate to them as much time as they need. 

My work requires sensitivity, empathy, patience, and willingness to answer patients’ questions at any moment. It might not seem easy, but I don’t feel stressed, I see my work as an opportunity to make the world a better place. I know how many people our clinic has already helped, and I want to know that there are more and more happy families… I’m happy when our patients thank me for giving them the support they need to choose a donor, and I’m proud of the fact that I take a good care and give a lot of time and attention until they find an option that suits them completely.

The O.L.G.A. Fertility Clinic

O.L.G.A. is quite a comprehensive concept. 

On the one hand, it is our mutual and cozy home, where absolutely everyone is friendly and welcoming. I love coming to the clinic, working in the office on the attic floor, going down to the kitchen and meeting my colleagues, who are genuinely happy to see me.

On the other hand, it’s a place where all wishes of our patients are taken into account, where people are willing to listen, hear and help. Our team consists of only empathic and supportive professionals who share patients’ pain and sincerely want to help. All the patients I have met at the clinic speak warmly of the staff. 

I often see people in the lobby who see each other for the first time but chat as old friends. Our home is a space that unites and gives comfort.

My personal interests

I hardly ever have free time, but if it happens, I devote it to my husband and three sons. The words “Mommy, I love you, you’re the best in the world, let me kiss you” fill me with energy, they make me grow wings behind my back.

Together we walk, go to the theater and to the Philharmonic, in the evening we gather around the table and play board games, draw, sculpt, make stories, talk and read a lot. On weekends I try to take them downtown in search of new impressions, knowledge, and experiences. It is marvelous to see things that you are used to through the eyes of a child. I love talking to my elder son on the way to his kindergarten: it’s a long way, and we get to talk a lot. He is a deep and thoughtful boy, so it’s a great pleasure to discuss things and sometimes to get into debates. I like reading poems and sing songs in Russian, English or French to my kids. Reciting “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by heart or reading aloud “The Song of Hiawatha” is a special pleasure. I often tell fairy tales composed by myself, and when I have no inspiration, my boys help me end up the story. 

In a word, I cannot imagine myself without books, reading, reciting, translating, editing and writing. My main interest in life is language and literature. I am also fond of music; this is another part I cannot live without. As a child, I used to play the piano and study at the musical school. Being a granddaughter of the Leningrad Conservatory alumna, I predicated the future of the pianist, but I was too rebellious to follow the rules and since teenage years I’ve been dreaming of playing drums or bag-pipe in a heavy-metal band. I am quite a mature person, but I stay faithful to my ideals, and I am still a metalhead. 

Work is also a source of energy: the clinic is not my only job, but it’s my priority. I also continue teaching preschoolers English, and my students still delight me with their progress. 

A year ago I made my long-time dream come true and started attending Irish dancing classes. I admire this art and my passion was ignited by the popular Riverdance show, although I have always been interested in literature, music and the culture of the green island. Most of all I like to dance in hard shoes: no words can describe the feeling of unity that comes when we all together tap an intricate rhythmic pattern.

Education

2014 — Federal State Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education “St. Petersburg State University”, qualification — linguist, specialization — Intercultural Communication, higher education.

In 2015 I started post-graduate studying in Literary Criticism (course of Foreign Literature of Europe and the USA), but due to deliveries and maternity leaves I haven’t yet defended my thesis. 

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