Everything: Egg Freezing

Egg Freezing

GUIDE TO THE EGG FREEZE PROCESS & TIMELINE

In this presentation you will understand how long the Egg Freeze process takes and a step-by-step timeline from your first consultation to your egg retrieval.

ARE YOU FINANCIALLY READY TO START EGG FREEZING?

Important to-do's prior to EGG FREEZING with Insurance

Does Insurance cover Egg Freezing?

No, Egg Freezing is not a covered benefit. The insurance company does not see this as a medical necessity. However, there are a few plans that do cover this service. Morgan Fertility will let you know if your plan does during your financial meeting.

Does Insurance cover medications?

No, the insurance company will not cover any Egg Freezing medications. You will be self pay for this.

G U I D E T O T H E E G G F R E E Z E P R O C E S S & T I M E L I N E

If you are self-pay for your treatment:

Morgan Fertility will require you to pay for your Egg Freeze treatment in full or set up a payment plan before any medications are ordered to the pharmacy.

If you are self-pay for medications:

Morgan Fertility has a sister company called Morgan RX Loans and you can apply to get a loan for your fertility medication. We have shopped around for you and we can guarantee we are giving you the best prices for your medications. If you would like to apply for medication financing, visit: www.morganrxloans.com

Disclaimer: You may have to go on birth control for a number of weeks to get you to baseline before you start your stimulation medications.

G U I D E T O T H E E G G F R E E Z E P R O C E S S & T I M E L I N E

This one of the most commonly asked questions about starting Egg Freezing it totally varies based on the person. Factors such as:

what day of your menstrual cycle you are on how you respond to fertility medications your personal life schedule

This will effect the number of months it will take you to get from your initial consultation with a fertility specialist to Egg Freezing.

For the sake of simplicity, let’s assume that you follow the standard path of the Egg Freezing with no delays. Here’s a basic breakdown of what will occur to help you reach your goal.

"How long does the Egg Freezing process take from start to finish?"

G U I D E T O T H E E G G F R E E Z E P R O C E S S & T I M E L I N E

Month 1

Consultation and Pre-testing

The first thing you’ll do is meet with a reproductive endocrinologist to go over your medical history, fertility goals, and have fertility testing. Your first visit may include:

Blood tests for hormones & infectious diseases

This hormone test will be processed in house while the infectious disease panel will be sent to LabCorp or quest to be processed and usually takes about two weeks to get the results back.

Transvaginal ultrasound to estimate your ovarian reserve Genetic Bloodwork

G U I D E T O T H E E G G F R E E Z E P R O C E S S & T I M E L I N E

Blood testing: Fertility testing (exams):

Estrogen (E2)

Progesterone (P4)

Luteinizing Hormone (LH)

Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH)

Anti-mullerian Hormone (AMH)

Thyroid Hormones (TSH, T3, T4)

Prolactin

Testosterone

Infectious diseases (Hep B, Hep C, RPR, HPV, HIV, etc)

Red blood cell count

Other blood tests specific to your medical history

Baseline ultrasound to count the number of follicles on each ovary

Pelvic exam

Your hormone levels will inform your physician of your reproductive health, ovarian reserve.

The ultrasound is an important factor in helping your physician evaluate your ovarian reserve, the medication protocol needed, and give an estimate how many eggs you could get from an Egg Freezing cycle.

G U I D E T O T H E E G G F R E E Z E P R O C E S S & T I M E L I N E

The Start and First Steps

If you have paid for your cycle you are ready to begin. You'll call Morgan Fertility on Day 1 of your period, this is when your period is full flow. We do not want to see you when you are spotting. The receptionist will book you an appointment to come into the office between days 3-5 for ultrasound and bloodwork.

The clinical team will also give you a treatment schedule listing which medications to start on what days. You will follow the treatment schedule that is made, you should expect to come into the office about 4-5 times before your actual egg retrieval. You will be on fertility medication for about 12 days

You will come in for your appointment in the morning, we start office hours at 6:30 AM and we are done seeing patients around 11:00 AM. In the afternoon once your bloodwork comes off the blood machine the doctors will review your results and you will get a call back from one of the clinical team members with your next steps.

/the better part of about 2 weeks. After one of those appointments you will be booked for your egg retrieval (this will happen in the Lakewood office).

On the day of your egg retrieval the embryologist will freeze the embryos in Morgan Fertility's Lab and they will stay there for however long you want us to store your eggs for you.

G U I D E T O T H E E G G F R E E Z E P R O C E S S & T I M E L I N E

Month 2

Cycle Day

What's happening?

Day 2 or 3 Start stimulation medications (injections for 8-12 days on average)

Day 3-10

Continue stimulation medications as instructed by the clinic, you will have monitoring appointments so your doctor can track your follicle growth and assess when you will take your trigger shot.

Day - 11

Take the trigger shot at a specific time set by your clinic. The egg retrieval will be scheduled for - 36 hours after your trigger shot time.

Day 12

Egg retrieval (with anesthesia)

The embryologist will count how many eggs were retrieved and will freeze those eggs in the lab.

G U I D E T O T H E E G G F R E E Z E P R O C E S S & T I M E L I N E

D i s c l a i m e r : C y c l e t i m e s m a y v a r y d e p e n d i n g o n y o u r s p e c i f i c h o r m o n e l e v e l s .

Medications

The number of days you take stimulation medications is unique to you. The stimulation duration depends on how an individual responds to the medication. Some patients need more days of injections, some need less.

As far as the exact medications you will use, it depends on what protocol your physician puts you on. Not everyone responds to the same medication protocol.