Egg Freezing
Pause Your Fertility
Plan your future family
Egg freezing is a way for women to preserve healthy eggs for the future. Egg freezing is like an IVF cycle in that all the early steps of the process are the same. Ovarian stimulation followed by retrieval of multiple eggs. But rather than being fertilized in the laboratory, the eggs are frozen immediately until the time is right for fertilization and embryo transfer.
This treatment is a popular option for young women who would like to ensure genetic parentage when they are ready to start building their family. At Pearl Mini-IVF, we offer several options for egg freezing including minimal stimulation protocols with cycle batching, as well as traditional high stimulation protocols.
Your First Visit
Day 1
During your first visit, your doctor will review your medical history to learn more about your fertility and overall health. She will also perform a pelvic ultrasound to assess and visualize both ovaries, and draw blood to test hormone levels including ovarian reserve (the number of eggs in your ovaries.) All of this is done right in our office.
Additionally, during this visit, your care team will go over what to expect from the egg freezing process. This will cover information related to medication, scheduling future appointments, financing, and answering any questions you may have.
Preparing for Your Cycle
Days 2-12
Only a single egg is produced when you ovulate naturally. Hormone injections, which are taken for 8-12 days prior to your egg retrieval, will stimulate your ovaries so that multiple eggs develop during your cycle.
During this time, you’ll need to visit our office several times for ultrasound monitoring and blood tests in order to ensure that you are responding well to the medication.
Your Egg Retrieval
Day 13
Once your eggs have matured, our team will schedule your egg retrieval. The egg retrieval process is an outpatient procedure (performed under twilight anesthesia) and typically only takes between 20-30 minutes. During the retrieval, your doctor will retrieve the eggs from your ovaries with the help of a transvaginal ultrasound.
Immediately after the retrieval, your eggs will be “flash frozen” or vitrified. This cutting-edge technology allows your eggs to be immediately preserved, effectively stopping the clock and leaving you the option to thaw and fertilize when you’re ready.
