Eggscellent

I am pleased to say the egg freezing process went smoothly and the procedure was successful. The two weeks of daily hormone injections, blood tests and scans were intense. I was waking up at 4:30am and injecting myself with one type of medication at 5am every day from day 7 until day 16 (2 days before the procedure). I had one blood test at 7:30am and then needed to be on call and be told if I needed to come in for a second blood test and scan between 10:30am and 2pm. On the second week, the blood tests were twice a day and my arms were black and blue on both sides. I wondered if this is what a drug addict’s arm looks like and how they don’t feel sore or tender the way my arms and belly felt. (Stomach was from the two hormone injections a day.). This is not to try and scare you, it’s to describe the process I went through and the emotions I experienced. For someone who is considering the process, to know all of it, from one woman’s perspective.

There were times where I was sleep deprived, sore and wondering how much longer this would take. As the process with the ARGC is between fourteen and eighteen days and it is very much tailored to each individual. And the actual procedure is not confirmed until about thirty-six hours before. Making life very had to plan or organize. I recommend taking the second week off completely if possible and keeping meetings and appointments to a minimum the first week. (It also made me think, this is only eighteen days, a pregnancy is nine months. I better be mentally prepared for this should I decide to have children.)

I knew in total, this would be 1-1.5 months of my life and in five year’s time, if I suddenly feel desperate to have offspring, I would have given myself the best chances to do so. And if I still feel like children is something I would like, but not a must, I could donate the eggs to research or someone whose life it may change. (Though a friend and I had a philosophical discussion about how we would feel knowing there are multiple children in the world out there with our DNA but not being brought up by us.)

They collected thirteen eggs, twelve of which were of good quality to freeze. I am happy with that number. In my first round, they collected nineteen eggs and froze fourteen. So, even though ARGC tell you not to compare yourself to your previous rounds or other people, I was pleased that I was able to stay competitive with myself and produce a similar number of good quality eggs. I was advised that for my age, etc. twenty eggs would be a good number to have a good shot at producing one child. With two rounds and a total of twenty-six, I have a good chance of producing at least one off spring, and maybe two; should I find the right partner, we both want children, and not be able to conceive the natural way. So many IFs and scenarios to think about. But I feel relieved. I did my best; I went through the hard bits and now am in recovery for a couple of weeks. I can function normally, just can’t exercise until my next menstrual cycle, as it means my tubes etc. have returned to normal size.

This time around, I felt less overwhelmed and stressed. It was still taxing on the body and emotionally, it’s still not a walk in the park. I had moments where I had trouble breathing and I thought they were panic attacks. Turns out I was potentially experiencing hyper-stimulation, something quite common—a few side-effects include headaches, bloating and shortness of breath. All of which I experienced.

But I was more equipped in knowing what to expect, and knew exactly what I was getting myself into, having done it once already. It was less daunting and I understood that in doing this second round, I have done my personal best in keeping my options open so I won’t have regrets, at least on this front. I now have the bloating and weight loss to “deal with” but I feel grateful that I am healthy. I did not end up with hyper-stimulation (so far) and I can move on with my life and put this section to bed. I can earn the money back in the future, but I can’t capture the quality of my eggs down the road. I am proud to have done this, again. And alone. I did not feel sad or lonely. But I did it by myself. (With the support of the ARGC, whose staff members are wonderful.) It felt empowering and reminded me that I am strong and capable. That I am surrounded by love and people whom I can count on, but ultimately, I can count on myself. That I can do this and many things because I have the inner fortitude and resilience. As women, we often forget to acknowledge our own strength and power. At least I did and still do, but am working on it.

If you are considering this but not sure, reach out and I would be happy to have a conversation with you. It’s not for everyone, but don’t wait too long to think about it. Time really does fly by and it’s not a must, but I do urge you to seriously consider this. Not enough people talk about how as women, we are taught we can conquer the world, but there are some limitations of biology that we need to factor in.