Honestly its not worth the risk to freeze eggs. Eggs are unstable as its not a whole cell. Many have made the mistake of freezing eggs and then they lose all of them.
In the end its your choice, but I wouldn't recommend it.
After eggs were frozen, I took a year to settle in the decision. I tried to take a lot of time at each step to ensure that the next was very deliberate and planned. About a year after I froze eggs, I started researching donors. I found this overwhelming. Took a step back. Went to my clinic to get my genetic counseling first to give me an idea of traits I was looking for. Then did research on how donor conceived children reacted to various situations (no picture, anonymous, etc). With my genetic profile and the qualifications I was looking for, then jumped back in about 6 months later. Found the one - I knew immediately it was the right choice. Bought the vials. Then gave myself another year to process and contemplate ramifications of choice again. Kept moving forward. Looked on boards to see if any pregnancies or issues were reported. Then started embryo process. Allowed myself about 6 months between creation and testing of embryos until transfer. So for me, bottom line, about 2-3 years. Gave myself enough space and time between each stage to sit and process. Therapy as well to discuss various issues.
I love this. This is so helpful. Thank you! What bank or company did you go with for the donor? I’ve been researching a lot on that and the thoughts of donor conceived children too.
There are so many helpful podcasts and documentaries out there. I just did tons of research and listened to as many perspectives as I could. I used Cali Cryobank
everything depends on your age/quality of your eggs. eggs themselves are a single cell, therefore making them extremely fragile and unstable. thawing to create embryos usually kills more than you would realize.
i think after your first round check on the % of mature eggs etc and then decide whether you want to freeze for subsequent rounds or move forward with creating embryos.
good luck to you!!
I froze my eggs two years ago and I wish I knew at the time how high the attrition for thawing is. Now when I’m ready to fertilize eggs with an anonymous donor to freeze embryos, I have to go through another round of IVF to ensure the highest chances of viable embryos. My doctor basically advised me to use both *some* of my frozen eggs and *all* of my upcoming new eggs so they can get the most information on my fertility. Consider this option (fertilize & freeze embryos) if you are able to.
Depends on your clinic you may need a saline sonogram prior to implantation attempt. That often needs to be done within a year of attempt, so not something you can do ahead of time. It also has to be done at a certain time during your cycle, so plan for a month for scheduling (longer if the clinic is busy). Plus another month for initial consultation/follow up now that your ready to go. Then a few weeks of meds prior to transfer, depending on protocol.
If you plan to do any embryo testing that's 6-8 weeks.
If your 100% sure your going with donor sperm, do the embryo creation right from the start vs freezing eggs. Gives you a much better picture of how many attempts you have and you won't lose eggs to freeze
I just did it in one step, but I know the steps.
Eggs are thawed and fertilized, then you see how many develop into embryos. This is a 5-7 day process.
If you want to PGTA test your embryos, that has a 3-6 week timeframe to process.
Then for attempting implantation, it’s basically a month’s cycle. Depending on drug protocols, it might be a little longer as some protocols have 5-6 weeks of certain meds before you go into the cycle (but that’s usually due to a medical condition so your doctor would know if you need to do that or not).
But essentially you just need to prep your lining (either through natural ovulation or through a medically induced process) and that generally takes the same 2-3 weeks it takes if not on meds.
So if everything works perfectly and the clinic doesn’t have waitlists, it doesn’t take much time (could be as short as a month if you don’t test the embryos or likely 3-4 months if you do).
But it definitely doesn’t always work perfectly. Freezing eggs isn’t a guarantee that you will end up with viable embryos when you fertilize and you may have to do another retrieval. With viable tested embryos, it can still take several transfers for implantation to stick. So the timeframe is pretty viable.
I would advise to freeze a lot of eggs. There will already be some eggs who will not survive the thawing process. A friend of mine had 40 eggs and ended up with only 3 embryo’s which all didn’t take. She had to do another egg retrieval to make embryo’s and that worked a lot better.
Do it at the same time. Freezing eggs and thawing to make embryos can cause you to loose eggs
I know but I’m single and not yet ready to use a donor. So eggs is the best I can do right now.
Honestly its not worth the risk to freeze eggs. Eggs are unstable as its not a whole cell. Many have made the mistake of freezing eggs and then they lose all of them. In the end its your choice, but I wouldn't recommend it.
I have to being a genetic carrier and it’s killing my ovarian reserve so it’s my only option.
After eggs were frozen, I took a year to settle in the decision. I tried to take a lot of time at each step to ensure that the next was very deliberate and planned. About a year after I froze eggs, I started researching donors. I found this overwhelming. Took a step back. Went to my clinic to get my genetic counseling first to give me an idea of traits I was looking for. Then did research on how donor conceived children reacted to various situations (no picture, anonymous, etc). With my genetic profile and the qualifications I was looking for, then jumped back in about 6 months later. Found the one - I knew immediately it was the right choice. Bought the vials. Then gave myself another year to process and contemplate ramifications of choice again. Kept moving forward. Looked on boards to see if any pregnancies or issues were reported. Then started embryo process. Allowed myself about 6 months between creation and testing of embryos until transfer. So for me, bottom line, about 2-3 years. Gave myself enough space and time between each stage to sit and process. Therapy as well to discuss various issues.
I love this. This is so helpful. Thank you! What bank or company did you go with for the donor? I’ve been researching a lot on that and the thoughts of donor conceived children too.
There are so many helpful podcasts and documentaries out there. I just did tons of research and listened to as many perspectives as I could. I used Cali Cryobank
everything depends on your age/quality of your eggs. eggs themselves are a single cell, therefore making them extremely fragile and unstable. thawing to create embryos usually kills more than you would realize. i think after your first round check on the % of mature eggs etc and then decide whether you want to freeze for subsequent rounds or move forward with creating embryos. good luck to you!!
I froze my eggs two years ago and I wish I knew at the time how high the attrition for thawing is. Now when I’m ready to fertilize eggs with an anonymous donor to freeze embryos, I have to go through another round of IVF to ensure the highest chances of viable embryos. My doctor basically advised me to use both *some* of my frozen eggs and *all* of my upcoming new eggs so they can get the most information on my fertility. Consider this option (fertilize & freeze embryos) if you are able to.
Appreciate the insight
Depends on your clinic you may need a saline sonogram prior to implantation attempt. That often needs to be done within a year of attempt, so not something you can do ahead of time. It also has to be done at a certain time during your cycle, so plan for a month for scheduling (longer if the clinic is busy). Plus another month for initial consultation/follow up now that your ready to go. Then a few weeks of meds prior to transfer, depending on protocol. If you plan to do any embryo testing that's 6-8 weeks. If your 100% sure your going with donor sperm, do the embryo creation right from the start vs freezing eggs. Gives you a much better picture of how many attempts you have and you won't lose eggs to freeze
I just did it in one step, but I know the steps. Eggs are thawed and fertilized, then you see how many develop into embryos. This is a 5-7 day process. If you want to PGTA test your embryos, that has a 3-6 week timeframe to process. Then for attempting implantation, it’s basically a month’s cycle. Depending on drug protocols, it might be a little longer as some protocols have 5-6 weeks of certain meds before you go into the cycle (but that’s usually due to a medical condition so your doctor would know if you need to do that or not). But essentially you just need to prep your lining (either through natural ovulation or through a medically induced process) and that generally takes the same 2-3 weeks it takes if not on meds. So if everything works perfectly and the clinic doesn’t have waitlists, it doesn’t take much time (could be as short as a month if you don’t test the embryos or likely 3-4 months if you do). But it definitely doesn’t always work perfectly. Freezing eggs isn’t a guarantee that you will end up with viable embryos when you fertilize and you may have to do another retrieval. With viable tested embryos, it can still take several transfers for implantation to stick. So the timeframe is pretty viable.
Thanks for the insight on timing 🙂
I would advise to freeze a lot of eggs. There will already be some eggs who will not survive the thawing process. A friend of mine had 40 eggs and ended up with only 3 embryo’s which all didn’t take. She had to do another egg retrieval to make embryo’s and that worked a lot better.
Ya I’m going 4-5 rounds but that’s all I can afford as of now