Learn more about long-term storage of frozen eggs
When women ask our San Antonio egg freezing specialists about fertility preservation, they often want to know more about long-term storage of their frozen eggs. They want to know how we keep frozen eggs safe until they are ready to use them to start a family. Our fertility specialists are here to explain everything you need to know about long-term storage for cryopreserved eggs.
The steps leading up to long-term storage of frozen eggs
The egg freezing process involves multiple steps. It is helpful to know more about these steps while exploring long-term storage of frozen eggs.
- You begin by taking hormone medications for ovarian stimulation, which prompts your body to produce multiple eggs.
- The next step is a quick outpatient procedure for egg retrieval. During this process, you will receive sedation. Then, one of our San Antonio egg freezing specialists will pass a thin needle through the top of the vagina into each follicle under ultrasound guidance.
- Finally, our experienced embryologists will freeze your eggs using an advanced, ultra-rapid freezing technique known as vitrification. Research shows that this technique improves the successful freeze and thaw rates of eggs compared to older slow freeze technology.
Moving the eggs to long-term storage
Our San Antonio egg freezing specialists provide temporary on-site storage for frozen eggs that will be used in upcoming IVF cycles. For egg freezing patients who are not yet ready to proceed with embryo transfer, our embryologists will ship the frozen eggs to a fully credentialed and secure Ovation Fertility™ long-term storage facility.
The Ovation embryologists will use the latest equipment to monitor your frozen eggs 24/7/365. The result is peace of mind that your reproductive future is safe, thanks to Ovation’s highly secure storage for cryopreserved eggs.
How long can eggs remain in long-term storage?
Most women plan to store their eggs for five to 10 years. Researchers have found that women canconceive using frozen eggs that have been stored for this length of time. Live births are possible with eggs that have been stored even longer. But our San Antonio egg freezing specialists generally recommend long-term storage of frozen eggs for women who want to postpone motherhood for 10 years or fewer.
Using frozen eggs to achieve pregnancy
When you are ready to have a baby using your frozen eggs, an embryologist will thaw the eggs and fertilize them using the sperm from your partner or your sperm donor.
Our embryologists are well-versed in selecting the best embryo for transfer, so our San Antonio egg freezing specialists will perform an embryo transfer of a single embryo (SET). This procedure reduces the risk of having a multiple pregnancy, which can be dangerous for you and your babies.
After the embryo transfer procedure, your physician will monitor you for signs of pregnancy. After confirming that you’re expecting, your pregnancy should progress just like any other.
Contact us to make an appointment with our San Antonio egg freezing specialists and learn more about long-term storage of frozen eggs. You can take control of your fertility.