My husband and I have decided that we are ready to proceed.

I have what is called Diminished Ovarian Reserve (DOR), so we have chosen a girl to give us donor eggs. This is apparently the longest process EVER. The amount of legal paperwork we have acquired is simply astounding. The first company we wanted to use was a little more than vague about their process.

TDS(a) has their paperwork set up in such a way that there is almost zero protection for the Intended Parents. (IP) TDS sets up their paperwork in such a way that it protects THEM, the holding company, and no one else. It provides wording that the following scenario is absolutely plausible:
Fast forward ten years. Husband and I have our children a lovely set of twins, whom we have raised for 9 years. Out of the woodwork comes the egg donor, demanding parental rights. TDS has worded their contract in such a way that she is able to sue us for custody. Not only that, we have to pay ALL of her legal costs while she sues US for OUR children. But wait! There's more! During the process of her suing us, paying our own legal bills AND incurring the cost of her legal bills, guess what? SHE ... THE EGG DONOR ... is allowed to remain ENTIRELY ANONYMOUS. That's right, folks, we will never know her name. She could potentially come into our house and take our children and *poof* vanish into thin air. We would never know what happened to our children.

This is the scenario that TDS has left open for the donor.

So, after weighing the risks, we found another donor company called The Donor Solution. The Donor Solution *gasp* cares about what kind of person the allow to be a donor. They also word their contract in such a way that this woman will never have any rights to our child. (and the law backs it up!) We are very happy with them, and I am gad they came to us so highly recommended ... by a lawyer, too!

After wading through an inky mountain of paperwork, the likes of which would make War and Peace seem nothing more than a board book for kids, we are finally ready to proceed. I'm almost starting to get excited!

We have picked a donor, paid the deposits and signed the forms. Baby incoming!


Until next time, be good to one another.