Reasons For Egg Preservation

Many women desire to get pregnant and give birth to healthy babies when they are young and strong. Sometimes, this may not be possible due to medications preventing pregnancy, a cancer diagnosis, financial struggles, or multiple other reasons. If you are in such a situation, you need not worry since egg freezing in Newport Beach can help preserve fertility to help you conceive at your preferred time.

At OC Fertility, Dr. Moayeri and Dr. Sachdev will provide you with information and run tests to evaluate your candidacy for the procedure. The process is also known as mature oocyte cryopreservation. Reasons for egg freezing are:

• Having certain medical conditions that can affect your fertility. This might include autoimmune diseases like lupus and sickle cell anemia.
• If you are undergoing in vitro fertilization. When you undergo this kind of fertilization, you may prefer egg freezing to embryo freezing for either ethical or religious reasons.
• If you need treatment for cancer. Chemotherapy and radiation can negatively affect your ability to conceive or maintain a healthy pregnancy.
• If you wish to preserve your younger eggs for future use.

Preparation For Egg Freezing

Before you begin the egg freezing process, your doctor will request you first complete blood screening tests.

Infectious Disease Screening Test

Your doctor will screen for some infectious diseases like hepatitis B and C, as well as HIV.

Ovarian Reserve Testing

Your doctor will recommend this test to determine both the quantity and quality of your eggs. Your doctor will test the concentration of follicle-stimulating hormone and estradiol in your blood on the third day of your menstrual cycle. These results will help to predict how your ovaries will respond to fertility medication.

What To Expect

Your doctor will inform you of the three steps in egg freezing by explaining each step in detail.

Ovarian Stimulation

Your doctor will give you synthetic hormones to stimulate your ovaries so they produce multiple eggs rather than the single egg that develops monthly. To do this, you will be prescribed ovarian stimulation medication, as well as medications that prevent premature ovulation.

Your doctor will monitor your blood test results to check your response to ovarian stimulation medications. Monitoring is important due to your estrogen levels increasing as follicles develop, while progesterone levels are to remain low until after ovulation.

To monitor fluid-filled sacs where eggs mature, your doctor will do a vaginal ultrasound during follow-up visits. After 10 - 14 days, your follicles will be ready for egg retrieval.

Egg Retrieval

After giving you a sedative, your doctor will insert an ultrasound probe into your vagina to identify the follicles. A needle is then guided through the vagina and towards the follicle, while a suction device is connected to the needle to remove multiple eggs from the follicle.

Freezing

After your doctor harvests the unfertilized eggs, they are then cooled to subzero temperatures to preserve them for future use.

Age is just a number when it comes to starting a family. If you are looking forward to getting pregnant at a future date, do not hesitate to call or book an appointment online with OC Fertility.