Learn more about starting the egg freezing process

The fertility specialists and staff at Texas Fertility Center – San Antonio are committed to helping women take control of their fertility through egg freezing. Many of them have questions about when and how to get started with fertility preservation. Our San Antonio egg freezing specialists can guide women every step of the way as they proactively preserve their fertility.

Starting the egg freezing process

Women are born with all of the eggs they will ever have. But by a woman’s mid-30s, the quality and quantity of her eggs begin to rapidly decline. However, egg freezing can help them preserve their fertility, giving them the option to have a baby later in life.

When she’s ready to get started with fertility preservation, a woman embarks on a two- to three-week process that involves multiple steps designed to optimize egg production.

• A woman first visits our San Antonio egg freezing center for an initial consultation. At this time, a physician evaluates the woman’s medical history and explains the process of egg freezing.
• On the third day of a woman’s menstrual cycle, she will undergo a transvaginal ultrasound and have blood work done in order to assess her ovarian reserve and hormone levels. This information allows the fertility specialist to design the best ovarian stimulation protocol for her.
• Some women will take birth control pills for several weeks before beginning ovarian stimulation. This step can give them more control over the timing of their cycles while improving their ovarian response to fertility medications.
• The woman will then begin to give herself daily injections of ovarian stimulation medication. During this time, the woman will frequently return to our San Antonio egg freezing center for additional ultrasounds and blood work to assess her response to ovarian stimulation.
• When the egg-containing follicles mature, the woman will receive a trigger shot approximately 35 hours before her egg retrieval procedure takes place.
• The woman will return to our San Antonio fertility center for egg retrieval, a quick outpatient procedure. While the woman is lightly sedated, the egg freezing specialist will transvaginally retrieve the eggs by using ultrasound guidance.
• An embryologist will freeze the eggs and ship them to the state-of-the-art Ovation Fertility™ storage facility, where the eggs are carefully monitored at all times.

Build a family with frozen eggs

When a woman is ready to build a family by using her frozen eggs, they will be thawed and fertilized with sperm. The woman will then undergo embryo transfer, a process in which one of our San Antonio egg freezing specialists transfers one embryo to the uterus. The physician will then regularly monitor the woman for pregnancy.

If you would like to learn more about how and when to get started with fertility preservation, please contact us to schedule an appointment with one of our caring and experienced San Antonio egg freezing specialists.