Egg freezing, also known as oocyte cryopreservation, is becoming an increasingly common family planning method at Garden OB/GYN in Garden City. Many women consider freezing their eggs so that they have the option to become pregnant in the future for a variety of personal, medical and professional reasons.
If you would like to have the ability to get pregnant in the future, mature oocyte cryopreservation, or egg freezing with Garden OB/GYN at Garden City, may be an option for you.
Egg freezing gives women the ability to get pregnant in the future through a process that involves harvesting, freezing and storing her eggs to later be used for in vitro fertilization once she is ready to have a baby.
During egg freezing, unfertilized eggs are extracted from the woman’s ovary in a surgical procedure, which requires sedation. Once retrieved, the eggs are frozen in a process called vitrification to preserve them and prevent them from aging. Her frozen eggs are then safely stored until she is ready to get pregnant. Then, the eggs are thawed and fertilized with sperm through in vitro fertilization.
Many women and couples decide to egg freeze for a variety of different reasons. Egg freezing is a great option for someone who does now want to get pregnant now, but does wish to get pregnant at a later point in their life.
If you might wish to freeze your eggs, we encourage you to schedule an egg freezing consultation with our expert and compassionate medical team so that they can help determine if egg freezing is right for you.
Egg freezing does involve some health and emotional risks.
Fertility drugs are used to prompt ovulation so that multiple eggs can be retrieved at once. It is not common, but sometimes these fertility drugs are associated with certain side effects, such as swelling, abdominal pain, bloating, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and rarely a life-threatening syndrome.
Complications with the actual egg retrieval process are rare, but may cause bleeding, infection or damage to blood vessels or areas such as the bladder or bowel.
Egg freezing is a treatment that inspires hope for pregnancy in the future. However, it does not guarantee success. Many factors contribute to successful birth, and risk of a miscarriage largely depends on your age at the time in which your eggs are frozen. Typically the earlier you freeze them, the healthier and younger your eggs are.
If egg freezing is a viable option for you, your Garden OB/GYN egg freezing specialist will walk you through the exact pre-procedure steps so that you are prepared for your treatment. These steps might include blood screening tests, ovarian reserve tests to evaluate the quantity and quality of your eggs, and STD/STI and HIV testing. Before the procedure, you will also need to participate in treatment to stimulate ovulation. This involves taking fertility drugs to ensure you ovulate and produce multiple eggs for retrieval.
Following your procedure, you may feel crampy and achy, but this is normal. At the discretion of your doctor, after a few days to a week, you should be able to resume normal activities and participate in your daily routines, though it is advised to abstain from unprotected sex to prevent unintended pregnancy.
Interested in learning more about egg freezing and other fertility treatments at Garden City? Contact us to schedule a consultation with one of our Garden OB/GYN fertility and family planning experts.