WHY CONSIDER FREEZING YOUR EGGS?

That’s right… I’m not going to be just “Aunt B” anymore! Calm down… I’m not pregnant…yet. Although, if this little guy was my kid I’d be a mom tomorrow. Is he not the cutest? Not to mention he is so darn smart thanks to his mom and my best friend. Anyway, why am I not going to be just “Aunt B” anymore?? Well, I’m freezing my eggs.

Honestly, I never thought I’d be a mom until I was in my thirties anyway but now I’m 32. Guess what age your egg count starts to decline? Yeah 32. Considering I’m not married nor have a guy close to becoming my husband, I thought I should start exploring the egg freezing process. Actually, I really thought I should look into it because I’ve suffered with ovarian cysts since I was a teenager. I talked to my OBGYN last year and she highly recommended that I do it. Her exact words were, “I’d rather you have 32 year old eggs than 38 year old eggs”.

If I’m 38 years old when I have a child then so be it, but I know I’ll be very happy that I made this decision. Something else that you may not know about me is that I want to adopt too. There is something that has always tugged at my heart about adoption. I can’t explain it, but I just know it’s part of my future. Either way, I want to have the option to have my own child too.

So where do we start? I didn’t know a darn thing about the egg freezing process except it’s super expensive. My OBGYN referred me to a doctor and I did some research myself which is how I found CCRM, a global pioneer in fertility science, research and treatment. I decided to set up appointments with both doctors for initial consultations so I could get some general information before I decided to freeze my eggs.

The first thing I learned was there is an initial blood test you can do to determine if your egg count is in the range of “high/average/low”. It’s easy and painless, but it’s recommended to be off your birth control for 1-month. Some doctors say you don’t have to be off birth control to take the test. However, in my opinion I don’t want anything to possibly jeopardize or interfere with my results. I decided this was the best first option just to see where my egg count fell.

FYI: There is NO way to determine the exact number of eggs you have left!

By taking the blood test, I could determine how aggressive I needed to be with the egg freezing process. I knew I most likely wasn’t going to be in the “high” range, but was hoping to at least be in the “average” range. Mainly because (like I mentioned earlier) it’s NOT cheap and I need to save some money. Before the blood test you’ll stop your birth control for 1-month. You’ll have your first menstrual cycle then when you have your second cycle you’ll call the doctor to schedule a blood test.

Moment of truth… Where did my egg count lie? High? Average? Low? Well… I was on the lower end of average based on the blood test. Okay…not bad, not bad. In addition to getting the blood test done, you’ll go back into the doctor the following week for the test results and to get a sonogram. The sonogram will show how many eggs you are producing that month.

FYI: You produce a different amount of eggs each month. The average egg count is 8-10 per month.

Good news!! When the doctor did my sonogram she found almost 20 eggs. Fantastic! Looking at my sonogram, she said I was probably closer to a true “average” within the egg count range. Phew. That means I can wait a little bit and save some money before I freeze my eggs!!

So there is a lot of information out there about egg freezing… Clearly, I’m not a doctor but here are a few key takeaways from what I learned about freezing your eggs.

4 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT FREEZING YOUR EGGS

AGE

Literally the most important thing when it comes to egg freezing. The way my doctor explained it was like this, “Your body is like a photocopier. You can use the photocopier for 32 years or you can leave it in the box for 32 years. Bottom line: it’s still an OLD photocopier.” Basically, the older you get the less eggs your body is going to produce.

At age 32 your egg count starts to decline. Then at age 35 it goes down even more. Age 37 it decreases again. And after 40… Well, let’s just hope I’m not that old when I want to try to have a baby.

COST

Even though it’s smart to freeze your eggs as young as you can we may not have $10,000 laying around… Yeah, again it’s NOT cheap. Most insurance companies will NOT cover it either. So dumb in my opinion. Then you have to pay several hundred dollars each year to keep them frozen. Maybe a one night stand isn’t so bad? KIDDING.

LIFE EVENTS

I put this in here because I love my job and I love traveling right now. I don’t really want to have a baby until maybe 35 or 38 years old. I’ll still take a husband, but I want to travel and enjoy being married before I pop one out. So you gotta think about these things… Finding the ideal time can be hard.

HEALTH

Like I mentioned, I have ovarian cysts which is why I thought I should do this in the first place? Yeah doesn’t really matter. Once again, it’s all about the AGE. You can be the healthiest/most in shape person OR overweight and have other health issues. It’s not going to affect how many eggs your body will produce. You’re born with a certain number and that’s the hand you’re dealt.

There could be some extreme cases where there are health problems that can affect egg count, but from what I learned it’s mainly age. My blood test showed I was low in Vitamin D so I’d have to take some supplements first before I did the egg freezing process. Overall though… Age is your worst enemy with freezing your eggs.

So when am I freezing my eggs?! Probably within the next year. I’m going to start saving so I don’t have any debt looming over my head (thanks to my financial advisor for making me so responsible lol). AND… There is one thing about the egg freezing process I’m NOT excited about… The hormone shots.

FYI: You have to give yourself 2 hormone shots per day for 2 weeks leading up to the egg retrieval procedure. Ugggghhhhhhh…..why?! I hate shots!!!!!!! The things we have to deal with as women… But, I want kids so I’m going to have to suck it up!

Bottom line… I want kids in the future! I hope this post was beneficial to anyone else out there who might be in the same boat. Or I’d love to hear from you if you’ve gone through the egg freezing process!!