An author from Incredible tells why she decided to freeze eggs and what her experience was like

Today, more and more women decide to postpone motherhood. The reasons for this decision are many: prioritizing a professional career, waiting until a certain degree of economic stability is achieved, or simply the desire to travel and learn about other cultures before focusing much of your life on a child. For all this and much more, many women choose to freeze their eggs to use them years later.

Hi! My name is Gilda and I work at awesome.club🇧🇷 A few months ago I froze eggs and now I want to share my experience with you.

I’m 36 years old, three jobs, no kids, and right now I don’t want to have them. However, not too long ago, I started to think, “What if in a few years I change my mind and my body can no longer allow me?” These days, menopause comes later in many women, but what if that wasn’t the case for me? Because of this, I started looking for information about egg freezing, also called oocyte cryopreservation.

The first thing I did was consult the doctor who has been seeing me for 20 years, and she not only supported my decision, but recommended a clinic specializing in egg freezing and assisted fertilization. The next step was to make an appointment with the site director, who later became the doctor in charge of my treatment, to explain the steps to be followed. As a first measure, I had to do general tests (ultrasound, blood counts and electrocardiogram) to rule out possible problems. Everything went well, so I started with the treatment.

Before the doctor performed the egg extraction, I had to inject between two and three ovarian stimulation drugs a day. This is done so that by the time of extraction, as many eggs as possible have been formed. I had to give myself the medication at home and it was much easier than I thought (I had never given myself an injection before).

So, for about two weeks, two things were added to my routine: daily hormone injections and a daily visit to the clinic for check-ups: blood and ultrasound. In this way, the doctor checked whether the ovarian stimulation was working. One of the main fears generated by the treatment was the great emotional change that the hormone injections would involve: I believed that I would be crying and emotionally intractable, but it was not so. The main change I noticed was physical, not emotional: I felt very bloated and my knees, waist and ankles hurt a little. That was all.

After these two weeks of treatment, the day of the operation arrived. Egg extraction is done under general anesthesia, but it is a quick procedure and recovery is minimal: I went home the same day as the intervention, after a few hours, and the next day I was able to work normally. The doctor’s only indication was not to lift weight or make physical efforts for a few days.

Once extracted, the eggs were frozen until I decided to use them. According to the specialist doctor, I can use them until the age of 52, regardless of my fertility.

And if over the years I don’t use them, either because I have a child in the usual way or because I decide not to have children, I can discard them or donate them.

Although the treatment and operation are simple and do not require a lot of time, it is preferable that you have them when you have a few quiet weeks, without major commitments or travel, as you will need to visit the clinic frequently.

If there are no unforeseen events, the treatment lasts approximately two weeks. But if we count the previous analyzes and waiting for the results, the whole process takes about two months (at least, it was so in my case).

Injections for ovarian stimulation are always done at a specific time, they cannot be applied one day in the morning and another at night, for example. Medications must remain in a cold environment, so they must be stored in the refrigerator until the time of application.

It is an expensive treatment and, at the moment, it is not covered by the public health system, at least in Argentina (my country). The options are: If you have health insurance, find out if it covers you. Otherwise, you have to pay it in full.

Have you ever had this treatment? What is your opinion about it? Share your experience or your thoughts with us in the comments section.