Donor egg, sperm & embryo · Stockton Heath
There is almost nothing
in your control now.
Except where it lands.
Someone else’s cycle. Someone else’s numbers. Someone else’s dates. And you, waiting, with nothing at all to do.The 1 thing that is still yours is the place it is going to land. So let’s work on that.
Acupuncture, bloodwork and functional nutrition around your transfer. For couples, solo mothers, same sex parents, and anyone using a donor egg, donor sperm or a donor embryo.
Got a transfer date? Tell us and we’ll work around it.
Before any of the practical bits
However you arrived here, you did not arrive here lightly.
Nobody gets to this page by accident. There is a story behind it, and it is yours, and it is not the same as the story of the woman reading this next to you.
Some of you have been through years of this. Rounds that did not work, and no clear reason why. A number that got smaller every time somebody checked it. A consultant who was finally honest with you, in a kind voice, and you drove home and sat in the car outside your own house.
Some of you are carrying something in your family that you have decided, deliberately and with enormous love, not to pass on.
And some of you are not grieving anything at all. This was always the route. You are building a family with a partner who does not make sperm, or on your own because you decided you were not waiting for anyone, and the only thing standing between you and your child is logistics.
All of those people walk through our door. We see them every week. We will not make you explain which one you are before we get on with it.
The reasons people are here, if it helps to see yours written down
There are more than most people realise, and they are rarely listed out loud:
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→Rounds that did not work, repeatedly, with no explanation offered
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→Low ovarian reserve, or early menopause, sometimes at an age you were never warned about
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→A genetic condition in the family that you have chosen not to pass on
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→Cancer treatment, surgery, or a medical history that took the decision out of your hands
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→Premature ovarian insufficiency, or a condition you were born with and only found out about later
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→Azoospermia, or sperm that was never going to be part of this
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→Repeated losses, and a reason that was eventually found
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→2 women, and a decision about which of you carries
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→Doing this on your own, on purpose, because you were not waiting for a person who might not turn up
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→An embryo, donated by somebody who had finished their own family and could not bear to let it go to waste
Every 1 of those is a completely different story that ends up in the same waiting room. We do not need you to justify yours.
What is still yours
You will build the place it lands.
This is not a comforting metaphor and we are not going to dress it up as one. It is just what happens.
You will build the lining it implants into. You will carry it, for 9 months, through everything those months contain. Your blood will feed it. Every single cell that embryo grows will be assembled out of what your body hands over, day after day, for the better part of a year.
You will be the first voice it ever hears. It will be born knowing what your heartbeat sounds like from the inside, because it will have been listening to it for months.
And if you want to, you will feed it afterwards. Your body makes the milk. It does not check whose egg it was first. It is rarely said out loud to anyone in your position, and it is worth knowing before somebody assumes otherwise at you.
None of that is consolation. It is just the actual list of what your body is about to do.
We are not going to tell you it makes the other thing hurt less. It might not. But when people say it will still be yours, they usually mean it as a kindness and cannot explain why. That is why.
2 ways to start
How we can help with donor conception.
Pick the one that fits where you are now. They work well together: the bloods show us where to focus, and acupuncture is the support week to week.
Best place to start
Fertility acupuncture
Regular support, every step
Sessions timed around your clinic’s dates and your transfer, with the same practitioner every time.
- First appointment, 75 min£75
- Follow ups, 60 min£59
Bloodwork review
A proper look at your bloods
Getting your own health in the best possible place before transfer, with your bloods read against optimal ranges.
- Fertility Brew & Review, 60 min£140
- Both on Board, couples, 75 min£185
Not sure which is right for you? Book a free 15 minute call and we will point you the right way.
Who you’d see
Who’s actually in the room.
Our acupuncture team
7 registered practitioners
You will see the same practitioner each time, and she will remember where you are without being reminded. 40 years between us. We will not tell you how lucky you are.
Gaynor Almond
Fertility specialist · bloodwork & emotional support
Gaynor reads your bloods against optimal ranges alongside your cycle and your history. Your side of this has not changed, and it is very often the side that has not been examined. She also offers emotional support, a gentle hybrid of talking therapy and hypnotherapy.
Georgia Briscall
Functional nutritionist
Georgia works with the picture underneath as well as the one on top: the gut, inflammation, insulin resistance, autoimmune conditions. Your own biochemistry, not a template.
In their words
From people who sat where you are.
★★★★★
“I began acupuncture with Andrea after two early miscarriages. Andrea was understanding, kind and very knowledgeable. From the start I felt listened to.”
Megan Ellis · Google review
★★★★★
“I’ve been working with Kate since 2019… She is so informative and an absolute joy to chat to!”
Lisa Gillibrand · Google review
★★★★★
“From my first session Lisa has listened, advised and has helped in more ways than just providing acupuncture.”
Amie Faith · Google review
Taken from our Google reviews. 5.0 from 112 reviews.
Good to know
Questions people ask
Your eggs may not be part of this. Nearly everything else still is. You will build the lining it implants into, you will carry it, your blood will feed it, and every cell it grows will be assembled out of what your body provides for 9 months. Your hormones still run this. Your thyroid, your blood sugar and your inflammation do not know where the embryo came from. Somebody else is looking after the embryo. Until now, the place it is going may not have had much attention.
Yes. You can be completely certain it was the right decision and still be devastated by it, and neither of those cancels the other out. The hard part is that everyone keeps telling you how lucky you are, which is true and does not help, and leaves you nowhere to put the other thing. Nobody in this clinic will ask you to be grateful. If you want to be sad about it on the table for 75 minutes, that is a reasonable use of an appointment and it will not be the first time.
Both, if you want. There are 2 bodies in this and most places will only ever properly treat 1 of them. The one providing the egg and the one carrying are both patients here, and you do not have to pick which of you counts.
It is. Plenty of people come through this door doing exactly that, on purpose, because they were not waiting for someone who might not turn up. There is no grief to work through unless you have some, and we will not go looking for any. Come for the practical part.
That is the bit we notice most. If you are using donor sperm because there was not any, then he has been told something enormous and every appointment since has been about her cycle. He gets treated as a patient here rather than a lift. While 1 of you is being treated, the other can have auricular acupuncture, which is ear acupuncture, in the same session for an extra £10. It is deeply calming and a lovely thing to do together.
Yes, and plenty of people do. Tell us your dates and we will work around them rather than asking you to work around us, and when the dates move, and they always move, tell us and we move too. Always tell your clinic you are having acupuncture. If they have a view about timing around your transfer, theirs is the one that counts, not ours.
Somebody should be looking after your side of it.
Start wherever feels manageable. If you have a transfer date, tell us and we will work around it. If you have no idea what you need, start with the call.
Book acupuncture£75 first appt, 75 min · then £59, 60 min Fertility Brew & Reviewindividuals · £140 · 60 min Book functional nutritionwith Georgia · from £75 · 1 hour Free 15 minute callno pressure, no jargon
Or call us on 01925 612 208 · 30a London Road, Stockton Heath, Warrington WA4 6HN