Imagine this: a lovely, warm and gentle woman has been trying to conceive for 10 years. She and her husband have tried everything. She can’t get pregnant, but she can’t imagine a life without having a baby, without experiencing pregnancy and birth.
And there is another woman, smart and sensitive. She’s already a mom to two busy toddlers and a pre-schooler. She had no problems getting pregnant. She loved being pregnant, and her babies’ births were beautiful and empowering experiences. She feels deeply touched by this couple who wishes for a baby. She decides to help them, and she offers her egg. She’ll become their egg donor. This woman is my friend.
I’m incredibly moved by my friend’s decision. It’s not an easy process, egg donation; it takes weeks of preparation, it’s painful and rather unpleasant. But she has decided to do it. The recipient is not even her close friend; she’s a woman that my friend sees a few times a year at backyard barbecues. She’s someone experiencing infertility who could use my friend’s help.
I think my friend is an angel. She’ll be giving the recipient couple a possibility to have a newborn in their arms: to have a baby to care for, to kiss and cuddle. A toddler to run after. A kid to craft with. A family. I’m so uplifted by her act and so impressed by her unselfishness.
But I would never do the same. I couldn’t ever give my egg. For me, it would be like giving one of my kids. When I look at my older daughter Lili, it’s so obvious she’s mine. The fact that she speaks Polish like me and loves planes like her dad: that came from us raising her. But her temperament, her willingness to do new things, to meet new friends: that’s me. She would be like this even if raised by somebody else. And she looks a lot like me. My second daughter is still a baby, but I can already tell that she will have a calmer temperament like her dad’s. But she too has my smile. There is this genetic component that influences not only how we look, but also what our temperament is like. In consequence, it influences if we are spontaneous or not, if we are willing to try new things and open up to new people. That’s why, for me, it would be like giving up my kid.
Looking at another woman getting pregnant with my egg, I would feel that she’s pregnant with my baby. I would always feel like I’m also the mom.
However, I can totally relate to this woman who wants so badly to be a mother. I wanted that as well, but I had no problem at all getting pregnant. The minute I thought about getting pregnant, I was. And I really think that my friend is amazing, by giving her egg, her potential child.
Would you do it? Would you donate an egg to your friend? Or maybe it would be easier donating an egg to a family member? I know that even if I had a sister, I still couldn’t donate my egg. I’m really happy for my friend, though: I think that after this she’ll be going straight to heaven!
Lazy mom's 