ECART - Medical

We created embryos with Fertility Plus in 2020. We remember going to Fertility Plus for our first appointment and being overwhelmed with new information and series of consent forms that we had to read and sign. Many of which still had gendered designation expecting one of intending parents to be female. Crossed so many of those out as we were filling out the forms. It is a bit of a blur all the decisions we had to make on what procedures we opt for and consent to during IVF process. We also recall having to state what should happen to our embryos if we were to separate or die. There were the standard medical history, screening with blood tests.

For ECART and surrogacy part of the journey we decided to go with Fertility Associates. The main reason for the change was the convenience of larger team and additional locations available for some appointments. As intending parents (IP) that have already created embryos, medical assessment was quite simple this time around.

For us there were the usual screening blood tests, family history, personal health history. Nothing surprising but did feel some of screening not as relevant as embryos were already created 2 years ago.

The surrogate was required to do quite a bit more than us including ultrasound, physical examination. The surrogate's partner also had to do medical screening including blood tests.

One surprise was that our egg donor required to do medical screening again. Grateful our egg donor had no issues with doing this.

We did not require ECART aproval for the creation of our embryos as the egg donor is a direct realative of ours. The clinic where we created the embryos completed all the medical checks for the donation, however they did not complete the paperwork for the purpose of an ECART application.

Winding way back to 2019 and early 2020, there is a part of process not talked about by many. Semen analysis. There. I've said it. Many people who has been through fertility treatments including surrogacy will remember this well. Or maybe the memory has been surpressed. And yes it is as daunting and awkward as it sounds.

You get access to a donor room. This private room is it. This is where you will prepare youself and do your business and collect the specimen. The room had a bathroom/ensuite of sort, a single lazyboy type chair, and other necessary supplies to keep it clean and some instructions. There was a drawer with magazines (yes that kind of magazines you are thinking about) and they were for hetrosexual men. Talk about lack of representation and inclusion, hah! So fast forwarding to end of the experience in the room, you produce specimen into the cup, wash and clean up. Then there is the awkward steps with specimen cup in clear reseable plastic bag to the drop off area. Those 20 steps feel like a mile. If that wasn't awkward enough, this is where you hand out the signed form that goes with the specimen. The form asks about things like how many days it has been and so forth. You confirm all of this with the clinic staff then you are finally free to go.

Luckily I only had to do the analysis once. When you discuss the results with your doctor and get your report, it is another new experience. All analysed to a few numbers and ranges.

It is such an awkward and weird experience. Let me say this on behalf of everyone who has gone through this experience it is awkward but think of it as a practice run for when its actually time to create embryos because you have to do it again!

We were very happy to have medical clearance for everyone. It was another wave of "wow this is actually happening". It started to feel even more real and concrete!

Resources

1. ECART The Ethics Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology (ECART). You can find official information along with previous ECART meeting minutes.
2. Fertility Plus Fertility PLUS offers both public and private fertility consultations and treatment including those that require ECART such as surrogacy and donor conception.
3. Fertility Associates Fertility Associates undertakes both private and publicly funded treatments including surrogacy options and ECART.
4. Repromed Repromed offers both private and publicly funded fertility services in the Northern Region.