The Need For Egg Freezing
Industrialization forced women to be more ambitious in their careers, eliminating the urgency to start a family and have children. Most women choose to have children later in life. Fortunately, education has made women more informed about reproductive options like egg freezing Newport Beach, medically known as oocyte cryopreservation, which allows women to delay pregnancy.
Although there is a shift in societal patterns of childbirth, biological realities of fertility remain constant. Most women want to start a family after achieving their career goals. However, a woman’s fertility declines in the years preceding menopause, making conceiving a child difficult.
What should you expect during egg freezing?
The quality of ova declines as you grow older. Declining egg viability is not the only challenge of later pregnancy. Women who choose to have children in the years preceding menopause risk getting children with chromosomal abnormalities. Moreover, menopause is the end of ovulation. The cessation of egg release makes women infertile. Fortunately, various facilities offer egg-freezing options that allow future pregnancies for women who want a child but are not ready.
The initial preparation is necessary to optimize the success of your egg-freezing process. Your doctor will comprehensively review the regularity of your menstrual cycle and hormone levels.
Egg freezing begins with taking birth control pills to suppress your natural cycle. Afterward, your doctor will recommend hormone treatment to increase the eggs your ovaries produce during your cycle. This treatment involves injecting yourself with hormones for a month from day one of your cycles, the first day of your period. The following are the specific number and type of hormones included in your treatment:
- Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH),l injections for two weeks: These hormones stimulate the ovaries to produce more eggs.
- Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) injections in the middle of your cycle prevent early ovulation.
- Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) injection: This hormone triggers ovulation.
Regular blood tests are necessary throughout your hormonal treatment journey. Your physician will also recommend an ultrasound to assess egg development.
Once your doctor detects fully-developed eggs, the next step is egg retrieval. Ultrasound technology is critical to guide egg retrieval, which involves inserting a needle into ovarian follicles. Sometimes eggs are invisible during ultrasound imaging. Fortunately, your doctor can perform abdomen surgery under sedation and pain medication before inserting a needle to extract ova.
Egg freezing occurs immediately after egg retrieval. Your doctor will also need to inject a special solution into the eggs to prevent the formation of damaging ice crystals inside the ova during freezing.
After freezing your eggs, you can go on about your life, and when you are finally ready to use your eggs, you will undergo in vitro fertilization (IVF). This procedure involves fertilizing frozen eggs in a lab using sperm from your partner or a donor.
Successful IVF causes eggs and sperm development into an embryo that implants in the woman’s uterus. Your fertility clinic may need to grow more than one embryo to enhance your chances of a successful pregnancy. Contact OC Fertility® to start the egg-freezing journey that allows you to delay pregnancy until you are ready.
