What no one tells you about freezing your eggs

But I will.

beautiful flowers that were sent to me when i got home from the hospital.

As a 33-year-old female founder of a small business, the question of when to have kids is a big one.

When I eventually take a self-sanctioned maternity leave, there’s no one to cover for me. No one to create content, answer customer emails, develop new products—none of it.

A couple of years ago, I decided to freeze my eggs to buy time while I built the business. During the process, my husband and I made the decision to freeze embryos instead. After two weeks of shots, it was time for the retrieval—and they collected a high number of eggs.

That night, I went home to rest. A few hours later, I got up to use the bathroom.

The next thing I remember is waking up on the floor—on the blue tile some of you might recognize from photos—with my husband shaking me. I had passed out, hit my head, and was taken to the ER.

My blood pressure had dropped dramatically, and a scan revealed internal bleeding. My stomach was pooling with blood. I needed two blood transfusions and a plasma transfusion. Thankfully, I stabilized and didn’t require surgery to remove the source of the bleeding: my ovaries.

eating tartine bakery when i finally was able to eat normally lol.

I would later learn that the internal bleeding was from me being a carrier of a blood clotting disorder and the high number eggs retrieved/incisions made. (As an aside, I went to one of the best doctors in the country, and this was largely unavoidable.)

But with that high number, the drop off from the number of eggs retrieved to viable embryos eventually created was staggering—and is not specific to me.

This is the takeaway that I want you to have that more women should be aware of:

Here's a rough breakdown:

• Out of 10 every eggs retrieved, around 8 are typically mature.

• Of those, about 6 will fertilize.

• But only 30–50% of fertilized eggs develop into usable blastocysts (the stage at which they can be genetically tested or frozen).

So from 10 eggs, you might end up with 1–3 viable embryos—but that doesn’t guarantee a baby. (Source: Mayo Clinic)

That’s why, if you're under 35, the general recommendation is to freeze at least 15–20 mature eggs if your goal is one child. If you're over 35, the recommendation is to 25–30 eggs—which often means multiple retrieval cycles. (Source: FertilityIQ – Egg Freezing: How Many Eggs to Freeze)

out of every 10 eggs retrieved, you might end up with 1–3 viable embryos.

I'm not telling you this to freak you out—but because I so often hear egg freezing pitched as an "insurance policy" against your biological clock. And I think that metaphor oversells it. At the end of the day, this is a business—and they've done a hell of a job with the branding.

Unlike insurance, egg freezing doesn't guarantee a future outcome. You won't know the quality of your eggs until they're fertilized. Then there's implantation, pregnancy, and birth. There are drop-offs at every stage.

It’s not something you can fully plan for. Just like life.

This post isn’t intended to dissuade anyone. There are so many positives that come from freezing your eggs, and there is real power in taking ownership of your health and future. If given a time machine, I’d do it again (without the bleeding). But I hope this helps cut through some of the marketing speak surrounding it.

I know how privileged I am—to even have access to this process, to have a partner, to be in a position to think about timing.

But information can be a double-edged sword. It gives us the illusion of control. And for me, the scariest—and most freeing—thing I’ve learned is this:

It doesn’t exist.

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are you considering egg freezing or have you done it yourself? i’d love to hear your thoughts.

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