Tag Archives: egg freezing

Dating on drugs

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Any normal person would probably acknowledge that going on dates when you’re a) not drinking, b) full of hormones that can heighten your emotions and c) embarking on a process that is quite emotionally exhausting, is A Bad Idea. Of course it is, it’s insanity. So I can’t really explain what on earth possessed me to go on four first dates in the week that I was doing my first ever egg freezing cycle. I can only assume that it was my subconscious telling me that if I didn’t want to have to go down the donor sperm route, I should get my sorry arse out there and find the father of my children.

It being January, it was quite easy to pretend Continue reading →

The crying game

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Although M, who’s been through three cycles of egg freezing, had told me that none of her cycles were the same, in terms of the numbers of eggs and how she felt, I didn’t really believe her, but this time around, it’s distinctly different from the first time.

The biggest difference is that it’s day eight and I haven’t sat in my kitchen wailing uncontrollably – yet – I’m sure it’s only a matter of time. On my last cycle, by day six I felt like I was permanently Continue reading →

I REALLY need a drink (Part 2)

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So yeah, last time, I was off the booze for about a month. During that month I dated – of which more later – but incidentally, dating sober, should you be considering it is not to be advised. While, it wasn’t as horrific as I thought it was going to be, the soft-focusing effects of alcohol should not be underestimated.

I think of booze as a real-life Photoshop blur tool, gently fuzzing both my perception and that of others. Alcohol softens the more abrasive bits Continue reading →

I REALLY need a drink (Part 1)

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I’ll admit it, I like a drink. Not in the sort of way that means I should be heading to an AA meeting (although they do say denial is part of the problem) – it’s not like I start my mornings with a slug of vodka, or wake up with the shakes or anything. It’s just that – like most single people my age – my life revolves around social occasions that generally involve booze.

I meet dates for cocktails, or friends for dinners accompanied by a bottle of wine, I go to the pub after work with colleagues. I drink. And, when I’m having a tough time with something, whether it’s a bloke being a twat, work being stressful, Continue reading →

Belonephobia

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For those of you not schooled in Greek, that’s fear of needles – belone is ‘needle’ in Greek – who knew? Not me. I looked it up. Anyway. If you happen to suffer from belonephobia, I think you’re probably going to struggle with this egg-freezing lark. I’m very lucky, I don’t. I mean, it’s not like I love being jabbed with a sharp object, that would be lunacy. But of all the many things I’m terrified of (birds, mice, people being sick, dying alone, never falling in love again, falling in love again), needles isn’t one of them.

I’ve been a blood donor since the age of 18, probably because Continue reading →

Happy Easter

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In November 2013, at the open day of the clinic I eventually decided to freeze my eggs with, I was waiting for my consultation with the medical director, and idly texting a friend who I’d told about my plans…

Me: How’s your Saturday going? I’m at the open morning of a fertility clinic. Beat that.

S: I could make a really Irish in-poor-taste joke.

Me: I’m all up for jokes.

S: Eggs in the morning…?

Me: Frozen or fertilised? Continue reading →

It’s just me

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As I think I might have said earlier, one of the reasons that I wanted to write this blog was because I didn’t feel there’s any information out there for the likes of me. Which seems mad. Because I’m not the only person in this situation. Many of the friends that I have told know someone doing the same thing, but nobody’s talking about it. (Alright there is a woman talking about – she’s even written a book about it – but she’s American.)

I suppose what I mean is that, with the exception of a few Americans who are donating eggs, most of the women in the world currently injecting Gonal-f or Cetrotide are women who Continue reading →

The protocol

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Protocol: this is what they call the regime of drugs that they plan for you. They base this – apparently – on a number of things – your height and weight, the amount of bloodflow they can see going to your ovaries, your AMH results, all that sort of shiz. At least that’s what they told me, it could be that they just pluck an idea out of nowhere and go with it.

And, despite my sub-par AMH results, my scans were all good. In fact they told me that if I hadn’t told them I’d had endometriosis they’d never have known, everything looked normal. Hurrah, well done ovaries, uterus etc etc. I am, by the way, skipping over various bits of the story, like the fact that I cried Continue reading →

Testing, testing

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It was my consultation with the guru what swung it. She told me that I was only 36 (hurrah), she’d recommend a fertility MOT with a few tests to see where I was at and if it all looked normal, well why not wait six months to a year and see what happened? Yay, someone who didn’t want to prey on my insecurities and relieve of me of thousands of pounds just for the hell of it. Oh, and then I dropped into conversation that I’d had an endometrioma about seven years ago and she looked a LOT more worried.

Brief medical aside: Endometriosis is when cells that should be lining your womb end up elsewhere – in my case, in my abdominal cavity. Nobody really knows Continue reading →

Choosing a clinic

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You might have thought that once I’d decided to freeze my eggs, picking a clinic would be really easy. Wrong. At least not for me. The thing is, I’m a bit of data junkie, I tend to make decisions based on evidence. If I want to buy a vacuum cleaner, I’ll look at the Which? report; if I’m booking a holiday, I’ll check out reviews from people I trust (not those idiots on TripAdvisor, never them) and so for a Statto like me, it should have been as easy as looking at the success rates and going with the best one.

Except it’s so not. Because those success rates are pretty much bollocks. You don’t know if clinics are selective, only picking patients who Continue reading →