Egg freezing and me

Award-winning dietitian and founder of Fertility Dietitian UK Ro Huntriss has been supporting individuals and couples undergoing fertility treatments for many years. Recently, she embarked on her own fertility journey when she decided to freeze her eggs at Aria Fertility.

I’ve worked in the fertility sphere for a good few years now, and I’m very aware of egg freezing and its potential benefits.

I am 37, and I love my career, travelling, and spending time with my friends, so I had considered egg freezing. However, I was in a long-term relationship and out of nowhere, the relationship broke down very suddenly. I made the swift decision to freeze my eggs.

Making the choice to freeze my eggs

I don’t know what the future holds for me with regards to children, but I wanted to make a very positive decision in the middle of an uncertain time. Egg freezing represented an empowering choice. If I want to go on and have children, I’ve done what I can to facilitate that.

Preparing for my egg freezing treatment

Through my work, I’m seeing more and more patients who are about to embark on egg freezing, as there is so much you can do through your diet and lifestyle to influence your outcomes, including increasing the quality of your eggs and also the number collected.

Some women may have had an unsuccessful round and want to improve their chances, but there is also a growing awareness about the importance of preparation before they even begin. Egg freezing is a significant investment in time and money, so delaying your procedure for three months to improve egg quality and quantity makes absolute sense.

Stress and other lifestyle factors are also things to consider as there are many things that can affect our fertility so it’s wise to look at things from several angles.

So, I did everything I could do from a diet and lifestyle perspective to optimise my chances. This was very holistic, as everything I was doing made me feel better and did good things for my body. There’s no downside to making these positive changes.

My egg freezing journey

My egg freezing process went smoothly. I had the advantage of working in the industry, so I understood the process better than most people going into it. The most important part of it is finding a clinic that you like and that you’re comfortable with.

You are with that team for some time and want to feel cared for and seen as a person with a story and not just a number.

I knew of Aria beforehand and had met the clinicians, so that was a positive for me. But after speaking to the team members, I just felt very comfortable and supported.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to be with needles; I’m not needle-phobic, but I wasn’t sure how painful it would be. However, it was fine. I felt bloated towards the end, which makes sense as you have so much more fluid there, so it wasn’t unexpected. It does feel like your life is on hold for a bit.

They collected 13 eggs. The optimal number is 15 to 20, but this was still a pretty good result for my age from one cycle so I decided not to repeat the procedure because I was so close to the optimal number, and the quality of eggs was good. I’m also in a place where I’m not sure I want to have children, so I felt very happy with what I’d achieved and ready to move forward with the rest of my life.

Egg freezing was a positive step for me and I’m really glad I did it. It increases my chances of having children should that be my path, so I’d encourage others to consider it if they find themselves in similar positions, or who may be considering having children later in life.

You can watch Ro’s journey as the BBC’s Anna Collinson meets the people taking the chance to try and preserve their fertility in Egg Freezing and Me.