1) Fertility Assessment

The egg freezing process always begins with an initial consultation, ultrasound, and blood work so your doctor can assess the best steps forward. You will be given hormonal medications for 10-14 days to stimulate ovaries to produce multiple eggs (instead of just one in a standard menstrual cycle) before eggs are retrieved. During this time you’ll be monitored closely so make sure your hormones are at an appropriate level for your procedure. Procedures are usually scheduled 12-16 days after medications start and are done under general anesthesia.

2) Egg Retrieval

This is a simple procedure performed by our expert doctors that involves inserting a thin ultrasound-guided catheter into your ovaries to retrieve eggs. You will be sedated and under general anesthesia for the whole process which takes about 15 minutes. Afterwards you may feel cramping, bloating, abdominal distention and constipation. These side effects usually resolve 5-7 days after the procedure. Most women need 1-2 days to recover after the egg retrieval.

Once your eggs are in our lab our expert embryologists will select mature eggs to be frozen via vitrification, a method of rapid freezing. Access to your frozen egg data will always be available to you.

3) Egg Freezing

4) Using your frozen eggs

When you are ready to try to conceive, your eggs will be thawed, fertilized in the lab using partner or donor sperm, and implanted into your uterus or the uterus of a gestational surrogate. Preparing for implantation often requires hormones and ultrasound monitoring. An embryo transfer is similar to a pap smear and does not require any anesthesia.