Egg Freezing (It's Happening!): Baseline Ultrasound

This year, I learned that it's easier when hope is absent. After years of wishing and hoping I'd meet someone special and, by extension, one day have a family of my own, I just... stopped. If you aren't hoping for something, you aren't disappointed when it doesn't happen. Since I had gotten to the point where the disappointment was overwhelming, this approach seemed to help.

But now:

• I'm at the tail end of 35.
• My father, who is a maternal fetal specialist, has been pushing hard for me to freeze my eggs before it's "too late."
• I will be changing jobs soon and don't want requests for time off to attend doctor's appointments and have surgery to interfere with making a good first impression.

That's to say, it's time to stop wringing my hands and just do it already.

I'd completed my initial consultation with the reproductive endocrinologist ("RE") and infectious disease screening months ago. So, the RE's clinic was able to react quickly when I asked to get the cycle started asap. This involved the following immediate steps:

• Baseline sonogram - This appointment is timed to your menstrual cycle. To put it simply, the RE is looking to confirm that the lining of your uterine lining is thin so that the stimulation cycle can begin.
• Order medications - Stimulating your ovaries to produce eggs for freezing requires, in my case, $3,500 in injectable medications and related supplies. The pharmacy shipped the medications to my office (since my neighborhood is having a problem with the disappearance of packages delivered to the front door) and I rushed them home for refrigeration.

This drill is nearly identical to the steps that were taken to donate my eggs in my twenties, except, of course, that I'm footing the bill this time. Here's hoping all goes well. The process should be complete and my eggs should be on ice by mid-December.