Girl freezes eggs. Girl tells internet.

NO PREAMBLE STRAIGHT INTO IT!!!!!!! Since I froze my eggs, *everyone* has been asking about it. (Which I love. Plz ask me about it.)

But just in case we’re not in the same room anytime soon, here’s a giant brain dump of everything I learned when I froze my eggs including some stuff that’s kinda gross and absolutely dozens of needles.

Why freeze my eggs (now)?

Time is the egg’s enemy. There’s no test for egg quality except age. Sooooo…imo the perfect time to freeze those eggs is the youngest you can be while being financially able to do it (it’s hella expensive).

I started thinking about it at 31, but didn’t take action till 33. I wish I’d done it earlier.

Time is of the essence!

How many eggs do you need? How many eggs do you get?

I’m pretty sure I’ve read every single article about egg yields on the internet and they’re all slightly different. Apparently the age you are when your eggs are frozen has a lot to do with it. This calculator is a fun way to play around with egg numbers…

How expensive is it?

Egg freezing is notoriously expensive and my insurance doesn’t cover it (most don’t). I paid ~$3200 for the meds and about ~$3500 for the procedure itself. I’m still waiting for a miscellaneous healthcare bill to pop up unexpectedly (thanks, American healthcare system) but as of now, one cycle of egg freezing cost just under $7,000.

Update! Apparently in DC, one cycle of egg freezing costs $4950. No idea how I got away with $3500 on the first cycle but this second one sure is $5k. (Total like $8200 with meds.)

But! Don’t be too sure that you can get away with just one cycle — even though I’m only 33 my yield was pretty low (6 eggs frozen) so I’m doing a second cycle, which will mean a cost of about $14k total.

Why Kindbody?

I ended up choosing Kindbody because of…design. Crazy to choose a company based on the coziness of their offices and UI of their patient portal? Perhaps. But Kindbody delivered on design better than any doctor I’ve ever visited.

Their DC clinic is full of friendly people who made the process as positive as possible. Shoutout to Taylor, Brooke, Alessandra and the rest of the Kindbody team — their team is truly wonderful.

Nine things I didn’t expect.

1. It took over my life for two weeks. This process is no joke. Two shots every evening, with a third shot added every morning for the last 5ish days. A doctor’s office visit with a blood draw and vaginal ultrasound every other day. Feeling sluggish. A bloated, bruised belly. It’s impossible to forget you’re doing this, and it sucks.
2. But it only takes 2 weeks! From start to finish, the whole process took me 13 days. And while it was intense and mostly unpleasant, that’s fast as hell.
3. I was always at the doctor. I think I’ve visited Kindbody a total of 10 times by now. The team was super sweet and supportive which definitely made it easier, but having that many before-work appointments was tough.
4. I’m basically a scientist now. The scariest part of the whole thing was when a huge box full of needles (and meds) showed up at my door two weeks before my cycle. The medications are intimidating. A couple need to be mixed every day, needles switched out, Q-caps and alcohol swabs galore. Honestly, the medicine mixing part was kinda fun for me (and took a little bit of the fear away from the needle part). I 1000% recommend Schrafts 2.0 pharmacy, the nurse did an hour-long Zoom to walk us through the meds. It was intimidating, but I promise I’m more scared of needles than anyone else reading this, and if I can do it, you can too. Except that I couldn’t actually give myself a single shot (see: fear) so my boyfriend did them for me.
5. I got my period during the cycle. I was so surprised when my period came on day 3 of my cycle. I thought I’d ruined the whole thing somehow. But it won’t ruin your cycle, or as the on-call nurse said to me when I called her in a panic, “We don’t care about your endometrial lining.”
6. You can’t have sex or drink, wtf. I had no idea about the sex part and when I received a message in the portal two weeks before my cycle informing me that I’m not supposed to have sex for somewhere between 4–6 weeks…I was not pleased. The drinking part is just the two weeks though.
7. I couldn’t work out (but maybe you can?). I had bloating/swelling/discomfort from day 3 on, so I couldn’t work out at all the whole time. The nurses said it’s ok to do some weight lifting, but no twisting, so if you feel better you might be able to squeeze in a light workout.
8. I will need more than one cycle. Many people have to do multiple cycles of egg freezing in order to get enough eggs to meet their kid goals. That’s…a lot to ask. I ended up freezing 6 eggs, which is a 40–50% chance of one baby, so I’m going to do a second cycle next month.

Three things you should absolutely do

• Get a buddy. I’m absolutely terrified of needles, so there was no way I could stick myself with any of the probably three dozen shots I had to take. My boyfriend volunteered and man that saved me. I can’t recommend highly enough just having another person around who can help measure meds, remind you to do your shots, and sit at home with you when you’re just too tired.
• Ice before you inject. The Schrafts pharmacist told me this and it’s the single best piece of advice I got. The shots were definitely the scariest part for me, and icing the area 15 minutes beforehand cut the pain (and fear) in half.
• Stretchy pants forever. For real, just don’t bother trying to wear jeans or tight clothes. Bloating and bruising require comfy stretch pants.
• Do it in the winter! Not during bikini season. Or wear a high waisted bikini bottom…cause the bruising is pretty intense.
• Drink a lot of water. They said this a lot. I tried to do it. I don’t know if it helped.

If you’re considering egg freezing…

Seriously, if you’re thinking about it, and you can afford it, do it. Time is the enemy here so the longer we wait and hem and haw and procrastinate, the less effective it’ll be.

Granted, the New York Times doesn’t seem to think it’s that good an idea, but to each their own eggs!

My two cents: it’s a great insurance policy to preserve your fertility in case something happens, or you don’t find the right partner at the right time. It’s also a potential waste of money. But it doesn’t seem to be dangerous, and it doesn’t affect your natural egg supply at all, so if the worst it can do is waste your money and two weeks of your time…