Egg Freezing 101: What You Need to Know
“Egg freezing offers you the freedom to decide when to start your journey into parenthood, free from the constraints of the biological clock.”
Written by Eileen McMahon, Nurse Practitioner and Egg Freezing Specialist at Hannam Fertility Centre
Embarking on a journey to freeze your eggs can be as empowering as it is complex. The topic has made headlines over the past few years as a popular option for people looking to plan for their future fertility, and/or balance career ambitions with family goals.
A delay in parenting is often multifactorial and may be related to one’s personal, professional, educational and economic circumstances. Egg Freezing has become a compelling option to optimize future fertility and extend what is known as ‘the fertile window’. Although there is no guarantee of a biological child from frozen eggs, it increases one’s chances.
Here are a few things we feel are important when contemplating egg freezing:
1. Informed Decision-Making
In order to make informed decisions about your future fertility, you need an understanding of your current reproductive health status. If you are curious to learn more, meeting with a fertility specialist provides an opportunity to discuss your overall health and family planning goals, and to proceed with recommended tests that help to evaluate your reproductive health. This typically involves ovarian reserve testing, which can provide valuable insight into fertility timelines.
2. Exploring Your Options
After your tests have been completed, your fertility specialist will evaluate your results, taking into account your general health and family planning objectives. Based on this review, you'll receive advice on what the next steps might be, which could involve egg freezing. If egg freezing is recommended, your specialist will guide you through the process, including determining the optimal time to begin a cycle, explaining the necessary fertility medications, discussing common side effects, outlining the egg retrieval procedure, and providing a timeline for the entire process. At Hannam Fertility, we offer guidance on the ideal quantity of eggs to freeze and the number of eggs we anticipate retrieving, considering your age and ovarian reserve. These estimations are grounded in extensive data gathered over several years from within our own CCRM lab.
3. Understanding the Process
If you choose to freeze eggs, you'll start with pre-treatment medications to synchronize the growth of ovarian follicles in the month leading up to ovarian stimulation. Next, you'll use injectable fertility drugs to stimulate your ovaries to produce multiple follicles. The development of your follicles is monitored over time through frequent blood tests and ultrasounds. Once the follicles reach the right size, we'll schedule your egg retrieval. The egg retrieval is a minor surgical procedure performed under sedation, after which many people return to work within a day.
4. Preserving Your Eggs at CCRM
Following the egg retrieval, our skilled CCRM embryology team carefully inspects your eggs. Mature eggs are then frozen using vitrification and securely stored at Hannam Fertility Centre. You can use them when you're ready, as there's no established expiration date for frozen eggs. You can feel secure in the knowledge that CCRM’s IVF success rates are among the highest in North America. We maintain stringent quality assurance and control protocols, and our clinical approach is strongly outcome-oriented, grounded in evidence-based research. In fact we have the distinction of being the only Lab in Canada accredited by the College of American Pathologists (CAP).
5. Considerations at Various Life Stages
In Your 20s:
It is possible that your ovarian reserve is lower than expected for age so exploring your ovarian reserve in your 20s is a proactive step. You may not decide to proceed with egg freezing yet, but at least you will have the knowledge to make an informed decision and peace of mind to know whether you have time to wait or take more proactive steps.
In Your 30s:
Egg freezing can be a strategic choice in your 30s as fertility naturally declines. It offers a proactive approach to family planning, allowing you to safeguard your future fertility by preserving the quality and quantity of your eggs as they are today.
In Your 40s:
While egg freezing is more successful at younger ages, it can still be an option for those in their early 40s. It may involve additional considerations, and success rates vary, but it can provide a path for those who decide to expand their families later in life.
Your fertility journey is distinct to you, and egg freezing is a resource that can allow you flexibility, empowerment, and the chance to synchronize family planning with your personal aspirations. Even though egg freezing doesn't guarantee a future pregnancy, it can significantly improve your chances of conceiving later on. It offers you the freedom to decide when to start your journey into parenthood, free from the constraints of the biological clock.
Connecting with a fertility specialist can help you decide by getting the information as early as possible — book an appointment with Eileen McMahon to get started.
