WHAT IS THE PROCESS OF FREEZING YOUR EGGS?

If you’re between the ages of 20 and 35, you might be starting to wonder about what your future looks like. Are you working hard at a job you love? Thinking of having kids, but just not yet? Freezing your eggs can be a good option for peace of mind, especially if you have roadblocks ahead. If you’ve recently discovered that you have cancer and need to undergo chemotherapy, freezing your eggs can become a sigh of relief. If you are approaching age 33 and are not in a committed relationship egg freezing maybe something to consider. But before you make the leap, understanding the process of freezing your eggs is important. Keep reading to learn about what goes into freezing your eggs.

The process of freezing your eggs is very similar to the first portion of IVF (In Vitro Fertilization). You will need to take hormone injections, and undergo an IVF egg retrieval procedure.

HORMONES

You will receive hormone injections to boost your body’s production of eggs. Instead of just the one each month, your body will produce more with the help of the hormones. You may need between eight and fourteen days of hormone injections, and you will also come in for check-up visits every few days, to see how your body is responding to the hormones. That information helps us tailor our timeline to you and how you’re doing.

RETRIEVAL

Retrieving the eggs is a short procedure, generally around fifteen minutes. At Rocky Mountain Fertility Center we use a needle to puncture the vaginal wall and retrieve the eggs in the ovaries. You will be sedated for this procedure.

CRYOPRESERVATION

After retrieval, your eggs are immediately frozen in sub-zero temperatures. They can then be stored until you are ready to try for a baby!

Overall, the process of freezing your eggs can take around three weeks or longer. Because your hormones will be affected, you may experience side effects from the procedure. Some women elect to do more than one egg freezing procedure, the more eggs that are frozen the better chance of future success.