Four Starter Facts On the Process of Freezing Your Eggs

Four Starter Facts On the Process of Freezing Your Eggs

For some, it may seem that freezing your eggs and saving them for when kids are more convenient is all the rage these days.

There is so much more to the trend than just that though. When eggs are harvested, the physician is given the unique opportunity to see your individual reproductive system doing what it does best. You come out of the appointment with more than just your preserved fertility and the hope that babies can be had later, you also come out with information.

Here are four facts on the process behind freezing your eggs:

The right doctor will be important. 

When you first consider the option of freezing your eggs, sit down and have a talk with your doctor. This may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s a vital step to the process and it’ll be important to see if the comfort level is there. Even just talking out your plan of action and your reasoning behind your decision may help you further engulf yourself in the process. Besides reviewing all the facts for yourself, doctors can give you information about the procedure, the cost, and the risks.

 

The process is long. 

Traditionally, when you begin prepping for your harvest day, you’ll undergo multiple ultrasounds to determine if eggs can be harvested from you. When this is made certain, the medical process will then include blood tests, daily injections, and other variations of daily monitoring. Once you’ve reached the desired ovulation, doctors will typically take about fifteen eggs in hope that one of them can thaw correctly and evolve into a healthy baby.

 

There are no guarantees. 

The results from each procedure varies person-to-person, but the likelihood for success is found to be higher for younger patients than for middle-aged women. There are vey few reported pregnancies from women over thirty-eight using frozen eggs, whether that be with sperm from a donor or sperm from a partner.

Freezing eggs is costly. 

On average, it can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000 dollars for care — medicine, treatment- per cycle. However, a study found that a woman who freezes her eggs saves money in the long run.

Women consider this option for many reasons. While it’s similar in cost to IVF (In-Vitro Fertilization) freezing eggs allows the woman to choose when she wants to have the baby. A woman can freeze eggs when she’s twenty-five and wait until she’s ready-whenever that may be- to have the baby. This is why freezing eggs is popular with cancer patients, and with women who have a family history of early infertility. 

COVER IMAGE COURTESY OF GETTY.