From New England to the Lone Star State: An egg freezing success story
When Miriam Price and Hunter Ashby met and fell in love in Maryland, both knew they wanted children. Miriam, who is eight years older than Hunter, wanted to have kids while still in her 30s – but only with the right partner. At the time, Hunter was completing a medical residency and wasn’t ready to start a family. With the relationship still new, Miriam felt the clock was ticking. In 2020, she decided to go to a local fertility clinic to explore egg freezing.
Fertility testing at that Maryland clinic revealed a diagnosis of diminished ovarian reserve, which meant that the number of quality eggs in Miriam’s ovaries was already getting low. It took two egg freezing cycles to freeze six eggs, giving the couple hope that whenever they were ready to have a baby together, they would have eggs available for use in IVF.
From Maryland to San Antonio, a family grows across the miles
Four years later, the couple had married and moved to Texas after Hunter had finished his residency. After settling down in San Antonio and establishing careers – Hunter as a practicing physician, and Miriam as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist – both felt that it was time to start a family. They began researching fertility clinic recommendations from Miriam’s OBGYN, and chose Texas Fertility Center and Dr. Erika Munch.
“When we met Dr. Munch, it was a wonderful first meeting,” Miriam says. “She explained all we needed to know, drew pictures, gave us numbers, was realistic and kind, and was just a wonderful person to work with.”
TFC’s partner Ovation Fertility laboratory worked closely with the couple to transport the eggs from Maryland to San Antonio. Once they arrived, the eggs were thawed and fertilized in the lab with Hunter’s sperm.
“We fertilized all six eggs and got two embryos, which was better than we had been expecting, as we thought we might get just one.” Miriam says. “Dr. Munch recommended genetic testing on both of them to reduce the risk of miscarriage. That’s how we learned that only one was a good genetic embryo.”
The couple transferred that single embryo in the summer of 2024, when Miriam was 43 years old.
The final stretch of a long road to parenthood via egg freezing
“Everything went smoothly with the IVF cycle, but I was definitely hedging my bets, as I didn’t want to get too hopeful in case it didn’t work out,” Miriam recalls. “We got the positive pregnancy test while visiting my husband’s parents in Hawaii, and we were so happy, we started crying. Then we got to go home and tell my parents we were pregnant, and that was such a wonderful, happy feeling.”
Because Miriam was in her early 40s, the pregnancy was automatically considered high risk. Then, a placenta previa was discovered at the 18-week ultrasound, leading to a brief hospitalization at 27 weeks for bleeding, followed by an early delivery at 36 ½ weeks by scheduled C-section.
The couple’s son, Michael – named after Hunter’s father – was born in January 2025. He was a bit small at 5 pounds 10 ounces, but was healthy and ready to go home without any need for a stay in the NICU.
“We are so happy,” Miriam says. “Michael is quite adorable, and he is totally worth all of the shots and all we went through.”
When is the right time to consider egg freezing?
Dr. Munch encourages women like Miriam, who want to pursue motherhood later in life, to explore egg freezing while still in their younger, more fertile years. She feels honored to have been able to help Miriam and Hunter complete a process that started 1,600 miles away, so that they could welcome their long-awaited baby into their family and home in San Antonio.