{"id":21619,"date":"2017-03-30T18:45:13","date_gmt":"2017-03-30T18:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olgafertilityclinic.com\/?p=21619"},"modified":"2025-01-28T12:55:36","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T12:55:36","slug":"should-i-tell-my-second-child-its-offspring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olgafertilityclinic.com\/en\/infertility-blog\/should-i-tell-my-second-child-its-offspring\/","title":{"rendered":"I want a second child through double donation, should I tell my second child about its offspring?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Second child through double donation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To tell or&nbsp;not to tell the child about the donation, is one of the most common topics patients think about. It is not possible to tell a patient what to do. What we can do, is to open their perspectives, give them a lot of information and&nbsp;then they need to decide themselves. We believe that&nbsp;every patient will make the decision that&nbsp;is best for&nbsp;them and&nbsp;their future children.<\/p>\n<p>Some weeks ago, I talked to a single mum. She had one child from a previous marriage, and&nbsp;she wanted a sibling for&nbsp;her son that&nbsp;is 4 years old. She did not have a good relationship with her ex-husband. She hardly communicated with him, only regarding the time he was supposed to spend with their son. He was not that&nbsp;interested in&nbsp;spending time with him.<\/p>\n<p>The women wanted to do a <strong>double donation<\/strong>. She needed both sperm and&nbsp;egg to be donated. She is too old to use her own eggs. The longing for&nbsp;a child and&nbsp;the idea of how great it would be with two children is her biggest motivation. She is happy about the possibility of being a mum by herself. She wants to find love again, but&nbsp;her experience with her ex-husband scares her, and&nbsp;she really believes that&nbsp;she can bring up two children alone with all the love and&nbsp;care they need.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"accent\">But&nbsp;she told me about some of her concerns:<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>\n<div>How will my child, born from <strong>double donation<\/strong> feel when&nbsp;his or&nbsp;her elder brother goes to his father?\u00a0 Will my second child envy his brother? Envy that&nbsp;he has a father?<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>Should I tell my second child about the <strong>egg donation<\/strong>? Will the child feel less worth, because&nbsp;it is not my genetic child?<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>I thanked the woman for&nbsp;her honesty. Because&nbsp;it takes courage to share your feelings and&nbsp;thoughts in&nbsp;a vulnerable situation.<\/p>\n<p>I told her that&nbsp;her concerns showed me that&nbsp;she already thinks like a mother of two children, she has already started to prepare how she can do her best for&nbsp;her two children, one of them \u2014 not even&nbsp;born yet.<\/p>\n<p class=\"accent2\">I try to help her the best I can, by opening some ideas to her concerns.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. <\/strong>If&nbsp;the father of her first child is not that&nbsp;interested in&nbsp;spending time with his son, how will that&nbsp;affect her son later? Is it possible that&nbsp;her second child will have a great time spending time alone with her as&nbsp;a mother? Is it possible that&nbsp;the situation can turn out as&nbsp;the opposite? That&nbsp;her first child will envy her second child because&nbsp;he wants to stay home and&nbsp;not spend time with a father that&nbsp;is not that&nbsp;interested in&nbsp;him? Or&nbsp;like in&nbsp;many other cases; a father that&nbsp;has started a new family.<\/p>\n<p>What if&nbsp;she meets a kind and&nbsp;loving man in&nbsp;the future, is that&nbsp;something that&nbsp;will affect her children? Does she have other men in&nbsp;her family or&nbsp;close male friends that&nbsp;have the possibility to spend time with her family, that&nbsp;could replace a father figure in&nbsp;some ways? You see? She will not know how the situation will turn out, she only creates illusions with the knowledge she has today.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2.<\/strong> Being unsure about telling the second child about the egg donation, I consider normal. In&nbsp;my experience, parents that&nbsp;already have genetic children of their own, and&nbsp;are preparing to do <strong>egg or&nbsp;double donation<\/strong>, have more difficulties deciding what to tell their child from the donation. They are scared that&nbsp;their next child will feel less worth than&nbsp;their first child. We are not able to know how our children will feel or&nbsp;think about the donation when&nbsp;they grow up. We also don\u2019t know how others will treat our children knowing it\u2019s an offspring of donation. Every child has a different personality, the environment they grow up in, and&nbsp;different support system around them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"accent2\">The women I talked to understood that&nbsp;that the child would know that&nbsp;he or&nbsp;she is made from sperm donation, but&nbsp;should her child know about the <a href=\"https:\/\/eggdonorideas.com\/en\/egg-donation\/what-is-egg-donation\/\">egg donation<\/a>? And&nbsp;would he\/she feel less worth?<\/p>\n<p>What I do know, is that&nbsp;it is hard emotional work, it requires planning and&nbsp;a strong maternal instinct to achieve her second child \u2014 and&nbsp;this can be told in&nbsp;a great way to her child in&nbsp;the child\u2019s own language. How much this child is wanted, although&nbsp;the child has no father and&nbsp;is not genetically hers.<\/p>\n<p>Behind every decision to receive an <strong>egg donation<\/strong> there is love. Love for&nbsp;a child. Love behind the decision to give her first child a sibling.<br \/>\nI told her that&nbsp;she gives her second child life as&nbsp;a gift, just like she gave her first child life as&nbsp;a gift. It is comparable. Its only two different ways of getting pregnant, the outcome is the same \u2014 her two children. She can tell her second child that&nbsp;she needed to travel far away to get the magical egg that&nbsp;made it possible to have exactly him or&nbsp;her. She can make up a great story to tell the child in&nbsp;a way that&nbsp;will make it feel special and&nbsp;proud.<\/p>\n<p>I told her that&nbsp;I am sure that&nbsp;to be made in&nbsp;different ways, will normalize in&nbsp;our society in&nbsp;the future, and&nbsp;that the love behind the decision to make a child \u2013 whether&nbsp;it be by \u201cthe normal way\u201d, or&nbsp;by donation \u2014 will be comparable and&nbsp;understandable to the children.<\/p>\n<p class=\"accent2\">She needs to trust that&nbsp;she is capable to make her children feel equal.<\/p>\n<p>She doesn\u2019t have to stress with the thought of telling or&nbsp;not telling yet. If&nbsp;she decides to tell, then studies show that&nbsp;the best time to tell is in&nbsp;early childhood, she has 6-8 years to decide what to do and&nbsp;how to do it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"accent2\">Now&nbsp;she needs to trust she will do the right thing for&nbsp;her family!<\/p>\n<p class=\"accent3\">I wish her the best of luck!<\/p>\n<p class=\"accent3\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Family counselor<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Tone Br\u00e5ten<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embryo adoption: I have one child that is my genetic child, now I want a second child through embryo adoption, should I tell my second child its offspring?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":21472,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v18.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Second child through embryo adoption - O.L.G.A. 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