January 24, 2024 • 13 mins
Hi Guys, lets get a little personal in this episode and talk about egg freezing - "oocyte cryopreservation" if you want to get technical ;).
I share a little about my though process on why I did it with some educational tid bits along the way if you are interested in it too!
Do you have questions about....
- Best time to freeze your eggs?
- Insurance coverage?
- What's the process like of injectables and the retrieval?
I answer them all here!
Instagram: https://instagram.com/forvaginasonly
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hey guys, Dr.
Celestine here, and welcome toanother episode of the For
Vaginas Only podcast.
In this episode, it's going tobe a little bit educational, a
little bit personal, because Iwanted to talk to you about my
egg freezing journey.
So we'll talk about my personalexperience, as well as some
things you can expect in generalfrom freezing your eggs, why you
should do it, when you should doit, et cetera, et cetera.
(00:22):
So if you want to find out more,take a listen to this podcast
episode.
But first, let's cue the music.
Hello and welcome to For VaginasOnly, the podcast about
everything female.
I'm your host, Dr.
Celestine, bringing youimportant information about
understanding your health andbody in the way you wish your
(00:42):
doctor would actually explainit.
Okay, welcome, welcome, welcome.
Thank you guys so much forlistening to the For Vaginas
Only podcast.
I am Dr.
Celestine, and like I mentionedin the intro, we're going to be
talking about my egg freezingjourney.
So not a lot of people know thatI did this, so if any of my
(01:04):
friends are listening, yes, yes,I did it.
And I'm going to tell you why.
But first, let's talk about whategg freezing is.
So Every female is born with acertain amount of eggs in their
ovaries that are scientificallycalled oocytes, two O's,
oocytes.
And this process is kind ofstimulating a bunch of those
(01:25):
eggs to be produced at once in amature phase that can actually
be frozen for a long period oftime, technically indefinitely,
the way that they freeze itthese days.
And that process is calledcryopreservation.
So scientifically, that's whatwe refer to as egg freezing.
Now, I will say I am a generalobstetrician and gynecologist,
(01:45):
and the type of provider thatdoes this is actually
specialized in reproductiveinfertility.
So they're usually REI doctors,reproductive endocrinologists,
and infertility specialists.
So I am not the primary go-tosource for every single question
that you have about this, but Iknow a little bit because I was
very interested in REI as aspecialty when I was training,
(02:08):
and I went through it myself.
So we're going to talk a So whyI did it, I, yes, I do have a
child.
If you guys follow me onInstagram, you'll see that I
have a son.
He will be three soon.
And I didn't really have muchdifficulty getting pregnant, but
I'm no longer in thatrelationship and I'm getting a
little bit older.
So I just figured, I know I wanthim to have a sibling at some
(02:32):
point.
And I don't know when my nextrelationship would come about to
do something like that.
So I figured, let me just havethis little bit of a security,
so to speak, and freeze my eggs.
So I've only gone through onecycle.
They actually say you need tohave approximately 20 eggs to
make one child frozen.
So I only have about half ofthat.
(02:56):
So I'm probably going to do itagain sometime soon before I get
too much older.
So yeah, so that's why I did it.
So the process is reallyinteresting.
The first of all, you have to becomfortable with your doctor.
Luckily, I know a lot of REIs inmy specialty.
I know them personally.
So that was easy for me.
But you out there, if you don'tfall upon the same kind of
(03:20):
circumstances as myself, youneed to be comfortable with your
doctor, which I say in anyfield, really, with your OBGYN,
with your primary care doctor,you need to have that
comfortability.
Next is insurance and coverage,and that's a big thing.
So some states actually havemandates, which are laws, for
coverage for reproductiveservices.
(03:41):
Sometimes they cover just thedoctor's visit.
Sometimes they cover themedications.
Sometimes they cover both.
I will say that from what I knowand from what people have told
me that the medications are themost expensive part.
So it's great if they cover atleast that.
Luckily, my job and insurancecompany partners with this
reproductive insurance calledProgeny, and I had a lot of
(04:04):
coverage for it.
So I was really, really, really,really grateful for that.
So that's something todefinitely check first to see
what kind of coverage is in yourstate and then what kind of
coverage is with your owninsurance.
The next part is you kind ofhave to do some baseline stuff.
So there's some blood workinvolved and an exam.
(04:25):
So the reproductive specialistexamines you, makes sure
everything looks okay.
They also start with an initialultrasound to look at your
uterus, look at your ovaries,and a lot of blood work.
looking at a lot of differenthormone levels to determine
where you fall.
And I also did genetic bloodwork to see if there's any
particular genes within me thatI need to know about that could
(04:48):
potentially then be in thoseeggs that I'm freezing.
So I actually found out that Icarry something that's not...
horrible.
It's not a horrible geneticcondition, but I didn't know
before.
So I carry a G6PD deficiency,which is a specific gene.
But the rest of my genes werenormal.
So that was good.
And then you go from there.
(05:10):
So according to the group thatdid my cryopreservation or egg
freezing, the best time to dothat is between the ages of 30
and 39.
And it's to preserve some Andlike I said, I did it.
I did it last year, actually.
And it kind of makes yourfertility finite.
(05:31):
These eggs are frozen at atemperature that can stay frozen
indefinitely.
You do have to pay for thestorage.
Sometimes the storage isincluded like a year or so in
whatever cost you're paying upfront.
But then you get like an annualbill to keep it frozen.
So that's important to know whatthose costs will be ahead of
time as well.
So anyway, on to the process.
(05:52):
So next, I...
started the medication.
So I had to let them know whenmy period was.
And I started the medicationskind of like around a little bit
before the time that I would beovulating.
So they kind of mimic yournatural cycle, but enhance it,
kind of push it a little bit tocreate more eggs in the ovary
(06:13):
instead of just the one egg youwould create every cycle
naturally.
for someone that has a regularperiod.
So there's different medicationsthat they give you to stimulate
certain hormones like FSH, forexample, follicular stimulating
hormone, luteinizing hormone,things like that.
So you go through that for awhile and they monitor you.
(06:34):
So I had to go into the officeevery couple of days to get an
ultrasound to see what myovaries looked like, how the
oocytes or eggs were developingon each ovary, how many I had,
how big they were.
And that was every few dayswhile I was doing the injection.
So it takes a lot of time.
I would go sometimes beforework.
(06:55):
Luckily, they open early.
So I would go there like 6 a.m.,7 a.m., get my ultrasound done,
get my blood work done becausethey check your hormone levels
too at every visit, you know,and then go to work.
So I did the same medicationsfor a while, adjust the dosages
here and there.
And then once you have anultrasound where your oocytes or
(07:16):
the eggs in your ovaries are acertain size, big enough to...
at least the follicle looks bigenough that there will be a
mature egg inside of it whenthey retrieve it, then that is
what determines when you takethe trigger shot, which is the
final injection of a differentmedication.
Sometimes it's HCG, for example,that is supposed to mature that
(07:40):
egg inside of the follicle justbefore you go and do the
procedure to retrieve your eggs.
So before I go through theretrieval process, let's talk a
little bit more about some ofthe risks.
So They watch you very, veryclosely because there's a risk
of something called ovarianhyperstimulation syndrome, where
(08:02):
your ovaries can be toostimulated.
There are certain people that atbaseline are at more of a risk
than others for this, and that'sa lot of times why they do those
baseline ultrasounds, baselineblood work to see how healthy
you are or how good of acandidate you are.
And then they watch you closelyto make sure that these
follicles on your ovaries arenot getting too big and making
(08:22):
sure that you're not in too muchpain.
To be honest, I've heard reallyhorror stories, honestly, of
people being super swollen intheir abdomen and things being
super painful and uncomfortable.
But that wasn't the case for me,luckily.
I don't know if they did like alower, probably a lower amount
of stimulation medicationbecause that can play a factor.
(08:43):
And like I said, it plays afactor on who you are and what
your baseline health is andbaseline status is.
So this thing is not withoutrisks.
So that's why it's importantthat you see the doctor every
few days and keep up with theirrecommendations.
And even when you now go to theretrieval process, there is that
risk of hyperstimulationsyndrome around that time as
(09:04):
well or a little bit after.
So the retrieval process wasinteresting.
It is a same-day surgery.
I did have anesthesia.
I don't remember it.
I showed up in the morning.
They took me into a back room,put an IV in me, and I walked
into the operating room.
You go up in stirrups just likeyou do in a gynecologist's
(09:27):
office.
I remember they put me in thatbefore I was even asleep.
And then they go through thevagina.
First, they put in an ultrasoundprobe.
So if you've ever had anultrasound where the probe goes
in the vagina, it's a similarthing.
But that probe has a littlespace for a long needle.
And they actually go through thevagina.
look at the ovary with thatultrasound probe, they push the
(09:51):
needle through the wall of thevagina into your ovary.
And it's like a little needlethat also has a suction attached
to it.
And they suck out each folliclethat should contain an egg and
hopefully a mature egg.
So the procedure itself actuallywasn't, like the recovery wasn't
that bad for me.
I had some crampiness.
I think I took some Tylenol oribuprofen.
(10:11):
And Then I was fine after a fewdays.
So it really wasn't horrible.
Then the physician calls you thesame day and they tell you how
many mature eggs they harvested.
So I knew when I woke up thatthey had initially harvested 11
(10:32):
eggs and then they send it to alab to get analyzed on which
ones are mature.
So for me, I had 11 eggsharvested, but only seven were
mature.
So I have seven frozencurrently.
Now, I froze eggs by themselves.
Some people will then inject theegg with a sperm, whether it's
donor sperm or sperm of yourpartner, and freeze an actual
(10:53):
embryo.
I hear those thaw better.
So once it's frozen, great.
Then they have to thaw them whenyou're ready to use them.
And once they thaw to be used,not all of them survive.
And the survival rate I've heardfor embryos is a little bit
higher than the survival ratefor just an egg alone when it
(11:16):
becomes thawed.
But I know it depends on thepractice of each office, of each
specialist, and as well as eachfacility that they use for
freezing and thawing.
So wherever you go to have thisdone, make sure you ask them
about their specific rates ofhow many eggs get retrieved, how
many are usually frozen, howmany are usually thawed and
survive.
(11:36):
So if you consider that I haveseven mature, you know, maybe
three fourths will survive thethawing process, you know, so I
don't really I'm not really leftwith that many.
So I think that's why they sayyou need about like 16 to 20
frozen eggs to then have onebaby using that process.
those eggs so that was myprocess I know it's not the same
(11:57):
for every single person it'smore difficult for some people
than others and I totally getthat but I wanted to share my
experience and talk a little bitabout why I did it and you know
I feel like a lot of people havebabies naturally which I also
did it's not always that easyfor everybody life situations
change your health statuschanges.
(12:18):
And I'm glad that there areother options like this out
there that we can explore,whether it's egg freezing,
whether it's just going throughthe full IVF process and all of
that.
So I'm grateful for theseservices now for women and for
reproductive health.
And that's it.
That was my egg freezingjourney.
I'm going to do it again.
When is the question?
Sometime this year, I think,before I turn 39 would be ideal.
(12:43):
And yeah, so thank you guys somuch for listening.
Please let me know if you haveany more questions about egg
freezing in any of the commentsbelow the podcast post on the
For Vaginas Only Instagram page.
And I will see you guys in thenext episode.
Bye.
Hey guys, Dr.
Celestine here, and welcome toanother episode of the For
Vaginas Only podcast.
In this episode, it's going tobe a little bit educational, a
little bit personal, because Iwanted to talk to you about my
egg freezing journey.
So we'll talk about my personalexperience, as well as some
things you can expect in generalfrom freezing your eggs, why you
should do it, when you should doit, et cetera, et cetera.
(00:22):
So if you want to find out more,take a listen to this podcast
episode.
But first, let's cue the music.
Hello and welcome to For VaginasOnly, the podcast about
everything female.
I'm your host, Dr.
Celestine, bringing youimportant information about
understanding your health andbody in the way you wish your
(00:42):
doctor would actually explainit.
Okay, welcome, welcome, welcome.
Thank you guys so much forlistening to the For Vaginas
Only podcast.
I am Dr.
Celestine, and like I mentionedin the intro, we're going to be
talking about my egg freezingjourney.
So not a lot of people know thatI did this, so if any of my
(01:04):
friends are listening, yes, yes,I did it.
And I'm going to tell you why.
But first, let's talk about whategg freezing is.
So Every female is born with acertain amount of eggs in their
ovaries that are scientificallycalled oocytes, two O's,
oocytes.
And this process is kind ofstimulating a bunch of those
(01:25):
eggs to be produced at once in amature phase that can actually
be frozen for a long period oftime, technically indefinitely,
the way that they freeze itthese days.
And that process is calledcryopreservation.
So scientifically, that's whatwe refer to as egg freezing.
Now, I will say I am a generalobstetrician and gynecologist,
(01:45):
and the type of provider thatdoes this is actually
specialized in reproductiveinfertility.
So they're usually REI doctors,reproductive endocrinologists,
and infertility specialists.
So I am not the primary go-tosource for every single question
that you have about this, but Iknow a little bit because I was
very interested in REI as aspecialty when I was training,
(02:08):
and I went through it myself.
So we're going to talk a So whyI did it, I, yes, I do have a
child.
If you guys follow me onInstagram, you'll see that I
have a son.
He will be three soon.
And I didn't really have muchdifficulty getting pregnant, but
I'm no longer in thatrelationship and I'm getting a
little bit older.
So I just figured, I know I wanthim to have a sibling at some
(02:32):
point.
And I don't know when my nextrelationship would come about to
do something like that.
So I figured, let me just havethis little bit of a security,
so to speak, and freeze my eggs.
So I've only gone through onecycle.
They actually say you need tohave approximately 20 eggs to
make one child frozen.
So I only have about half ofthat.
(02:56):
So I'm probably going to do itagain sometime soon before I get
too much older.
So yeah, so that's why I did it.
So the process is reallyinteresting.
The first of all, you have to becomfortable with your doctor.
Luckily, I know a lot of REIs inmy specialty.
I know them personally.
So that was easy for me.
But you out there, if you don'tfall upon the same kind of
(03:20):
circumstances as myself, youneed to be comfortable with your
doctor, which I say in anyfield, really, with your OBGYN,
with your primary care doctor,you need to have that
comfortability.
Next is insurance and coverage,and that's a big thing.
So some states actually havemandates, which are laws, for
coverage for reproductiveservices.
(03:41):
Sometimes they cover just thedoctor's visit.
Sometimes they cover themedications.
Sometimes they cover both.
I will say that from what I knowand from what people have told
me that the medications are themost expensive part.
So it's great if they cover atleast that.
Luckily, my job and insurancecompany partners with this
reproductive insurance calledProgeny, and I had a lot of
(04:04):
coverage for it.
So I was really, really, really,really grateful for that.
So that's something todefinitely check first to see
what kind of coverage is in yourstate and then what kind of
coverage is with your owninsurance.
The next part is you kind ofhave to do some baseline stuff.
So there's some blood workinvolved and an exam.
(04:25):
So the reproductive specialistexamines you, makes sure
everything looks okay.
They also start with an initialultrasound to look at your
uterus, look at your ovaries,and a lot of blood work.
looking at a lot of differenthormone levels to determine
where you fall.
And I also did genetic bloodwork to see if there's any
particular genes within me thatI need to know about that could
(04:48):
potentially then be in thoseeggs that I'm freezing.
So I actually found out that Icarry something that's not...
horrible.
It's not a horrible geneticcondition, but I didn't know
before.
So I carry a G6PD deficiency,which is a specific gene.
But the rest of my genes werenormal.
So that was good.
And then you go from there.
(05:10):
So according to the group thatdid my cryopreservation or egg
freezing, the best time to dothat is between the ages of 30
and 39.
And it's to preserve some Andlike I said, I did it.
I did it last year, actually.
And it kind of makes yourfertility finite.
(05:31):
These eggs are frozen at atemperature that can stay frozen
indefinitely.
You do have to pay for thestorage.
Sometimes the storage isincluded like a year or so in
whatever cost you're paying upfront.
But then you get like an annualbill to keep it frozen.
So that's important to know whatthose costs will be ahead of
time as well.
So anyway, on to the process.
(05:52):
So next, I...
started the medication.
So I had to let them know whenmy period was.
And I started the medicationskind of like around a little bit
before the time that I would beovulating.
So they kind of mimic yournatural cycle, but enhance it,
kind of push it a little bit tocreate more eggs in the ovary
(06:13):
instead of just the one egg youwould create every cycle
naturally.
for someone that has a regularperiod.
So there's different medicationsthat they give you to stimulate
certain hormones like FSH, forexample, follicular stimulating
hormone, luteinizing hormone,things like that.
So you go through that for awhile and they monitor you.
(06:34):
So I had to go into the officeevery couple of days to get an
ultrasound to see what myovaries looked like, how the
oocytes or eggs were developingon each ovary, how many I had,
how big they were.
And that was every few dayswhile I was doing the injection.
So it takes a lot of time.
I would go sometimes beforework.
(06:55):
Luckily, they open early.
So I would go there like 6 a.m.,7 a.m., get my ultrasound done,
get my blood work done becausethey check your hormone levels
too at every visit, you know,and then go to work.
So I did the same medicationsfor a while, adjust the dosages
here and there.
And then once you have anultrasound where your oocytes or
(07:16):
the eggs in your ovaries are acertain size, big enough to...
at least the follicle looks bigenough that there will be a
mature egg inside of it whenthey retrieve it, then that is
what determines when you takethe trigger shot, which is the
final injection of a differentmedication.
Sometimes it's HCG, for example,that is supposed to mature that
(07:40):
egg inside of the follicle justbefore you go and do the
procedure to retrieve your eggs.
So before I go through theretrieval process, let's talk a
little bit more about some ofthe risks.
So They watch you very, veryclosely because there's a risk
of something called ovarianhyperstimulation syndrome, where
(08:02):
your ovaries can be toostimulated.
There are certain people that atbaseline are at more of a risk
than others for this, and that'sa lot of times why they do those
baseline ultrasounds, baselineblood work to see how healthy
you are or how good of acandidate you are.
And then they watch you closelyto make sure that these
follicles on your ovaries arenot getting too big and making
(08:22):
sure that you're not in too muchpain.
To be honest, I've heard reallyhorror stories, honestly, of
people being super swollen intheir abdomen and things being
super painful and uncomfortable.
But that wasn't the case for me,luckily.
I don't know if they did like alower, probably a lower amount
of stimulation medicationbecause that can play a factor.
(08:43):
And like I said, it plays afactor on who you are and what
your baseline health is andbaseline status is.
So this thing is not withoutrisks.
So that's why it's importantthat you see the doctor every
few days and keep up with theirrecommendations.
And even when you now go to theretrieval process, there is that
risk of hyperstimulationsyndrome around that time as
(09:04):
well or a little bit after.
So the retrieval process wasinteresting.
It is a same-day surgery.
I did have anesthesia.
I don't remember it.
I showed up in the morning.
They took me into a back room,put an IV in me, and I walked
into the operating room.
You go up in stirrups just likeyou do in a gynecologist's
(09:27):
office.
I remember they put me in thatbefore I was even asleep.
And then they go through thevagina.
First, they put in an ultrasoundprobe.
So if you've ever had anultrasound where the probe goes
in the vagina, it's a similarthing.
But that probe has a littlespace for a long needle.
And they actually go through thevagina.
look at the ovary with thatultrasound probe, they push the
(09:51):
needle through the wall of thevagina into your ovary.
And it's like a little needlethat also has a suction attached
to it.
And they suck out each folliclethat should contain an egg and
hopefully a mature egg.
So the procedure itself actuallywasn't, like the recovery wasn't
that bad for me.
I had some crampiness.
I think I took some Tylenol oribuprofen.
(10:11):
And Then I was fine after a fewdays.
So it really wasn't horrible.
Then the physician calls you thesame day and they tell you how
many mature eggs they harvested.
So I knew when I woke up thatthey had initially harvested 11
(10:32):
eggs and then they send it to alab to get analyzed on which
ones are mature.
So for me, I had 11 eggsharvested, but only seven were
mature.
So I have seven frozencurrently.
Now, I froze eggs by themselves.
Some people will then inject theegg with a sperm, whether it's
donor sperm or sperm of yourpartner, and freeze an actual
(10:53):
embryo.
I hear those thaw better.
So once it's frozen, great.
Then they have to thaw them whenyou're ready to use them.
And once they thaw to be used,not all of them survive.
And the survival rate I've heardfor embryos is a little bit
higher than the survival ratefor just an egg alone when it
(11:16):
becomes thawed.
But I know it depends on thepractice of each office, of each
specialist, and as well as eachfacility that they use for
freezing and thawing.
So wherever you go to have thisdone, make sure you ask them
about their specific rates ofhow many eggs get retrieved, how
many are usually frozen, howmany are usually thawed and
survive.
(11:36):
So if you consider that I haveseven mature, you know, maybe
three fourths will survive thethawing process, you know, so I
don't really I'm not really leftwith that many.
So I think that's why they sayyou need about like 16 to 20
frozen eggs to then have onebaby using that process.
those eggs so that was myprocess I know it's not the same
(11:57):
for every single person it'smore difficult for some people
than others and I totally getthat but I wanted to share my
experience and talk a little bitabout why I did it and you know
I feel like a lot of people havebabies naturally which I also
did it's not always that easyfor everybody life situations
change your health statuschanges.
(12:18):
And I'm glad that there areother options like this out
there that we can explore,whether it's egg freezing,
whether it's just going throughthe full IVF process and all of
that.
So I'm grateful for theseservices now for women and for
reproductive health.
And that's it.
That was my egg freezingjourney.
I'm going to do it again.
When is the question?
Sometime this year, I think,before I turn 39 would be ideal.
(12:43):
And yeah, so thank you guys somuch for listening.
Please let me know if you haveany more questions about egg
freezing in any of the commentsbelow the podcast post on the
For Vaginas Only Instagram page.
And I will see you guys in thenext episode.
Bye.
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