The process begins by freezing the embryos. It is best to freeze embryos at the age of 41 or younger when eggs are still healthy and fresh. Frozen eggs don’t age, so they can be retrieved at any time.
When you decide it’s time to use your embryos, your doctor will conduct an ultrasound to check for structural issues. Then, your doctor will give you estrogen and progesterone to get your uterine lining ready for implantation. While you still have to take hormones during the procedure, you’ll take far fewer than you would have to otherwise, and they’ll have less of an impact on your body. You will not take ovulation medications, so it is much easier on your body, and it also requires fewer office visits than a fresh embryo transfer does.
Your doctor will spend a couple of weeks preparing your uterine lining, and then it will finally be time for implantation. He or she will thaw your embryos and then implant them.
Because the embryos are frozen, women can conceive at a much older age than they could naturally or with fresh embryos. This is because eggs don’t age and deteriorate when they’re frozen. If you freeze your eggs at 30, they will retain the same integrity even if they’re implanted when you are 45. This gives women flexibly to conceive at a much older age. That is why many women choose to freeze their eggs when they are younger. It allows them to keep their options open.
