In this episode, I’m sharing the nitty gritty details of my egg freezing journey I recently went on. It was filled with a lot of ups and downs, and ultimately, I’m more happy I did it than I even expected to be. Whether you’re interested in this topic for your own personal life or you know someone who has or will go through it, I hope hearing about my experience is helpful.
I cover:
Feedback? Questions? Comments? Head on over to Instagram and let me know in my DMs!
FREE TRAINING
COURSES
Follow me on Tiktok: @jessiemgolden
Subscribe to my Youtube channel
In this episode, I’m sharing the nitty gritty details of my egg freezing journey I recently went on. It was filled with a lot of ups and downs, and ultimately, I’m more happy I did it than I even expected to be. Whether you’re interested in this topic for your own personal life or you know someone who has or will go through it, I hope hearing about my experience is helpful.
I cover:
Feedback? Questions? Comments? Head on over to Instagram and let me know in my DMs!
FREE TRAINING
COURSES
Follow me on Tiktok: @jessiemgolden
Subscribe to my Youtube channel
[00:00:00] Welcome back to the Jesse Golden podcast. We it's been two weeks. Since we've had a, an episode go live and I'm doing these a little bit more organically as of late, because I am rebooting my YouTube channel and I will be. , focusing mostly on YouTube and then of course taking the audio to put them over here and it'll be.
Outside of just the scope of what I typically talk about with food and body and all that jazz.
I want to get into more of the other things that I find really interesting and what I've learned along my journey and share that over on YouTube as well. So the content will evolve a little bit over here on the podcast, and I'm also excited to have the visual. I love watching YouTube in terms of people I can really learn from.
I find it very enjoyable. I'm not a big like vlog kind of gal. , I don't think, find those things extremely interesting, but when it comes to learning from somebody and having it put into a visual format, I find that. To be really engaging and also forces may ask to sit down. [00:01:00] And focus on one thing, which is always good for me, rather than trying to multitask my entire damn life away.
So that is why we have coming down the pipeline. But today. I have a very unique. Five guest topic and it is all about my egg freezing journey. And I haven't, as of the time of recording this, it is Sunday, April 21st, and the episode will go live at leader this week. And I haven't told. Anyone in social media about this?
My, my audience, my community, because it was something I really wanted to keep to myself. I wasn't sure how the process was going to go for me. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about it. I wasn't sure how many eggs I was going to get. I wasn't sure how I was going to want to articulate this if I wanted to share it at all.
But in the end now that I'm on the other side. And I've had about two weeks out of the actual [00:02:00] retrieval itself. I have a little bit more of a bird's eye view to share my experience. And this is in no way, shape or form. I know I'm really working on not providing disclaimers, but I know that this can be a touchy subject for people.
So all I'm sharing is my experience. I'm not saying anybody else's experiences, right. Or wrong and that someone should look at it the way I did or not look at it the way that I did. You do you, I truly do not give one shit what anyone else is doing. And I hope I receive the same respect in return.
So if it's not helpful for you to listen to this, skip it. But if it's something that is intriguing to you and you'd like to hear somebody who's experience, I will. Be an open book with what I experienced in this, because it was really, really helpful for me to lean on people in my personal life who had gone through it and have their firsthand experience kind of walk me through it. Because there were some things that were a little challenging or that I didn't see coming. And just having that reassurance from somebody who's actually gone through it, rather than just a doctor saying something I found to be. [00:03:00] Really, really nice.
So I'm hoping that if you don't have somebody in your personal life or you just want to have another firsthand experience, that this will be that for you. So first things first. I in terms of my mindset and why I even decided to do it. I'm 35 years old. I just turned 35 and
I had originally looked into it at the beginning of last year of 2023.
I think it was February. And for one reason or another, it was bizarre that every time. So if you're not familiar with the process, just leading up to it, you have to have blood tests done on certain days of your cycle days, one and two of your period. And. I was always out of town or I had a freak thing come up when that made it.
So I was not able to get those blood tests and that ultrasound done. So. It was as if the universe was like, Nope, it's not time. It's not time. It's not time. And I, I couldn't do anything about it. I just had to surrender to it and I just trusted it. And. My mindset with all this [00:04:00] anyway is I'm not 100% certain that I do want children. I always pictured myself having kids, but it's way more important to me to find the right man that I do want to have kids with.
And if that doesn't happen in time for me to have kids, and that's the way it shakes out for me. So that's my mindset on the whole thing. But I can see myself and I've heard this from many people when I do find the right guy saying, okay, I want to have your kids. And I wanted to be able to have this as an insurance policy. Mostly I trust that I would maybe be able to have one naturally, but I don't know that you come from a long line of very fertile women who have almost all had children in their late thirties, some even early forties.
So. That's always kind of been the frame of reference that I've had for myself that, oh, I'm just going to have kids later in life. And if I do have kids that will, of course come to fruition for me and later in life, you know what I mean? In terms of reproductive years. So. [00:05:00] I decided, okay. I'm 34 at the time I started thinking about this and I hadn't even cross my mind prior.
And I was reflecting recently and why I didn't even think about it. When I entered my thirties because that's when a lot of women. Typically start to think about it. And my life got turned upside down in so many ways. I went through my health crisis right after I turned 30. Or right before. And all I was thinking about at that point was how my health was going down the tubes and how I needed to save myself, basically. And that took the better part of 2019 and into 2020.
And of course we had the pandemic. Like freezing, not even close to on my radar. And then I moved to New York in 2021, and then I was in Bali 2022. So it was just not even within the scope of something that I could consider in terms of my mindset or physically. So when I finally landed back in Denver and I had my feet underneath me, I wasn't going back and [00:06:00] forth all the time. It was something that made more sense for me to sit down and really think about. And part of me still felt like, well, maybe I'll meet my guy just in the next year and then it'll happen.
And I think a lot of women do that. I have some friends who are in their early thirties and that's been their mentality. And. Of course, that is a fine way to think about things. And the thing is we just have no control over that. So I think. Again, I can't go back in time and I wouldn't have even been able to, because from the age of 30 to 34, everything was such a shit show for me that it was, it would not have been possible physically or mentally for me to have the bandwidth to think about this. And. The reason I chose to do it now was that mentality of, well, maybe I'll meet them tomorrow, but maybe I won't meet him tomorrow. Maybe I'll meet him in three years when I'm 38. And then at that point, I'll be glad that I did this.
I think. But, and I know that they're different statistics. I've done as much research as I felt comfortable doing [00:07:00] in terms of the age that women can have children. And I, like I said, a lot of women in my family have had children naturally late thirties or late forties. So. It's not that I doubt my ability to do so, or my body's ability.
It's just, I don't fucking know. I don't know. And I won't know until I get there. So the fact that I was able to do this financially, which I'm extremely grateful for. It's something I decided. Okay. That puts me at ease, but also I was really, really afraid of the physical burden and the potentially emotional mental. Burden that this would take and more.
So I felt the physical part because of. Through so much stuff physically, it was like, whatever I can handle that. But the mental and emotional, I was really scared about that with all the hormones. And I've heard some horror stories, which of course we always hear the bad experiences. Right. Of what's happened to women's mental health throughout this process.
And so I came in being keenly, keenly aware of that, [00:08:00] and also had really, really low expectations. And I think that served me really, really well throughout the process. So. Just to quickly go through. Why it happened so suddenly, and it did happen suddenly for me, in terms of I had two cysts on my ovaries and they were larger.
It's very normal for women to have SIS and then they go away and they're on their own without us even knowing they're there. And once they get to approach around 10, seven centimeters, from what I understand, that's when they could potentially discuss. Having the cyst removed because then you're at risk of ovarian torsion where it wraps around the, the ovary. And that is an emergency surgery and you might have to have the ovary removed at that point.
So. The big issue for mine was I had one that was about six centimeters and they checked on it over a couple months because they wanted to see if it would go down on its own and it wasn't going down and it wasn't due to high estrogen levels. So they [00:09:00] anticipated that I was going to have to do. Assist. Um, I forget the technical term, but it's draining your cyst. And cyst aspiration is the term. And so I was expecting to do that.
And they said, right after the cyst aspiration, you will start meds the hormones, injections like that day or the day after. But they wouldn't tell me if. It was covered by insurance, which it wouldn't have been. None of this was covered by insurance. And they also were not telling me the cost. And so it was, they were just dragging their feet and. Ultimately the end, the place ended up being great, but I've heard from a lot of people that the project management. For a lot of egg freezing journeys can be. A nightmare.
It can be just totally discombobulated. And that was my experience. It was such a hodgepodge it's like I needed one point of contact. To summarize what everybody else is saying, but I was kicked over to finance and I was kicked over to the nurse and then to a doctor and then the front desk. And it just felt like I was getting [00:10:00] lost in the shuffle. 'cause I finally called them and said, look, I feel like a number.
I feel like I'm just getting passed along and I'm starting to get really frustrated. I need someone to help me give me answers. Otherwise I'm not going to do this. And then they got their shit together. So. I found out pretty quickly right after my birthday in March. So my birthday is March 20th of this year. They tested or they did the ultrasound rather to see my sister, just to double check one last time, my hormone levels. And that big cyst had gone away. Which was shocking to all of us because we were not expecting that.
So he didn't have to do the cyst aspiration. And so that gave the green light of, okay. That obstacles removed. And I was supposed to have been on birth control. This is again, the project management piece for. I believe. Almost two weeks or seven to 10 days, something like that. It was on my sheet. But I didn't, I don't take birth control and I wasn't given a prescription for it.
So I assume that was something they would say, Hey, you need to start. [00:11:00] Taking birth control. Here's a prescription for it. You started on this day and there was no communication about that. So when the nurse said. We're going to start hormone injections on this day. I just said, Hey, just to be clear. I have not been taking birth control. And I wasn't aware that I was supposed to have started that.
So. How does that change things? And she said, uh, yes, let me call you right back. I need to speak to the doctor. The doctor was like, okay, this is the last day. I think it was on day six of my cycle. After my period. And they said you need to start the hormone injections tomorrow at the latest. Luckily the shipment from the pharmacy was on its way and it ended up being delayed a day. So I was like, oh my God.
In a panic to the nurses, like, does this mean I have to push it back another month because the shipment's not going to be there. And so they ended up calling in a prescription to a local pharmacy for one day of the meds, which. If you're not familiar with the cost of these medications, [00:12:00] guys, my word. The medication is so damn expensive.
So for that extra day, I had to fork over. A couple extra, a hundred dollars, which is a mess. And you really don't know how much medicine you're going to be using throughout the whole journey anyway, but I was like, you know what? I'm in it. I'm doing it. I'm just going to eat this one. This is a pain in the ass. But I ended up starting that. Evening, once the medication, um, arrived.
Once I picked it up from the pharmacy and then it was, we were a go. So I started the injections and I was like, shaking. Because I was just had so much adrenaline coming with those medications and. It's pretty bizarre what you have to do on your own. You're shipped a whole bunch of needles. Your ship, these little containers that you have to mix and. Remove some of the liquid from one of them and then injected into another with powder and then put it back into the needle. To inject yourself. [00:13:00] And luckily I had someone in my family who FaceTimed me. To show me how to do it.
And of course they give you tutorial videos and everything, but it was just nice to have someone's firsthand experience. Who's been through it a couple of times. And walking me through that process and I was so nervous on the first stab. That you know, she was with me on the, on the phone and FaceTime that I just jogged it in there so quickly.
And she was like, Jesus. That was so aggressive. And it didn't hurt when I did it, but I was like, I just, I needed to get it in there and I didn't know how I was going to feel. So I just had to go for it. But it's pretty remarkable how quickly you get used to that. And. One of the medications hurt going in.
And so she warned me, she said, we go very slowly injecting it. Cause it does. You can feel it. Going in it's one of those shots. So. Over time each day, it got better and better. And. I felt. [00:14:00] Again, I was really paying attention to my emotional mental health throughout that process, because that's what I was most aware of, which could have been a little bit of a no CBO effect, right.
Where I was like over analyzing some of my moods. Because at the end of the day, I'm still a human and I'm going to have moods, right. But. All in all that went well. The first week. Uh, I would say up until day six, I felt pretty normal. And then I started to get pretty uncomfortable, so I could feel a lot of pressure. In my optimum in my womb area. And that continued to absolutely get more aggressive and worse over time. And the reason being, and I should have brought this up earlier is I have a really high follicle count. Like very high.
And so when I spoke to the doctor about that, because oftentimes that's indicative, uh, PCs and I brought that up to him and I was like, so does this mean I have PCs? And he said, well, We don't really know because [00:15:00] it could be that that's just the way you are. And I don't present with a lot of the other symptoms that are typical with PCOM. But there is what they call a quote-unquote lean type of PCO S where it's just due to stress, basically, which would make a lot of sense for me. Now do I know that for sure.
I don't. And I've talked to my primary doctor about it and he said, some people can present with PCs, like symptoms, but not have full blown PCs. I think there's a lot that is still coming out about PCOS. So. I don't think about that too much. My philosophy just like with Hashimoto's is it is what it is. And unless I can sit here and if there's something I can do to overhaul it.
Sure. Let me know. But until that point, I'm just not going to stress about it because there's no point. And I've gone through that. So many. Times it's so many different aspects of my health, my body. And it only has made things worse. So whether or not I do have PCOS. I have no damn clue. I will cross that bridge when I get there, when it comes to, if that [00:16:00] potentially impacts pregnancy. Because I can make your ovulation later, which I have experienced.
So that's something I'm actually working with an acupuncturist on a fertility acupuncturist. We'll see if I have any luck there, but really stress is always the big thing. For me, which is an ongoing discussion within my own head.
So long story short, I did end up having really high follicle count, which means. That of course, as I'm pumping myself full of these hormones, that there's a lot more of those follicles that are growing. Than somebody who has the average. So I was extremely bloated. And also I was at high risk for this syndrome called ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome, O H S S.
And that occurs when your estrogen is super high again from really high follicle count. So they really had to dial back. The medication that leads to an increase in estrogen. That was, I was using Follistim [00:17:00] started out using Ganahl Follistim and of. Same similar from what I understand. So they dialed that back pretty significantly towards the end of my cycle, because my estrogen was so high and you go in, I was going in every other day and the beginning, and then by the end I was going in every day. To see when I was ready to trigger.
And you don't know until the day before. So for somebody who has a. Corporate job, or they have to go into an office a really, really sympathize with you because it's a lot just mentally it's physically taxing. And I can imagine if someone's like, I want to get pregnant now and I've been struggling to get pregnant, the emotional toll that that would take.
So my heart goes out to you. If you were in that situation or you've been in that situation. Because just working for myself and having complete freedom with my schedule. And then going through this and having to go every single morning to have my blood drawn. To have an ultrasound and then to be injecting myself. Mostly in the [00:18:00] mornings or excuse me, mostly in the evenings.
And then by the last couple of days, also the mornings, it's just a lot to go through, but I kept reminding myself. It's just two weeks. It's just two weeks. And typically most women are triggered, triggered, meaning you take a trigger shot that says, okay. The follicles are going to mature so that they can be. Retrieved. That triggered, I believe on average happens day 11 through 14 for most women. And the conundrum was me because my, a follicle count was so high mean, and my estrogen was so high is they needed to make sure that they gave me enough time to get as many eggs mature as possible. So I think they want them closer to. 20.
I don't know if that's millimeters, I should know that. Whatever the. Um, the value is, but 20 is what we were going for. And, but the thing is if I had dragged it on that my doctor had to make a judgment call where he said, I would like to [00:19:00] see more of your eggs mature. But your estrogen is getting so high that if I keep letting it go on, you're at even higher risk for OHSS after the retrieval. And he was a wonderful doctor.
He was so great. The one that I was working with throughout the entire process, up until the retrieval, which you'll hear about. And he was very, you know, you, this is something that could potentially happen. And this is what the nurse told me too. And they were very, just chill about it. And they said it happens to women with high follicle count.
It's something that you are going to experience very likely. And I'll explain to you what that is in a moment. But just know you'll get through it and it's okay. And I was like, well, I'm, I'm not gonna like die or something. Right. Am I in here? We're like, no, no, no. If something happens where it gets really severe, we'll be calling you, checking in on you, you know, everyday after to make sure these are the warning signs, be paying attention to blah, blah, blah. And just know that it's probably going to, to happen to you. Which it did. It did end up [00:20:00] happening to me. So they ended up because they were waiting to see, okay, we want to get a couple more of these eggs beyond the maturity point. So that we can really make this worth my while, but also your estrogen is getting too high.
So it actually ended up being triggered. On Thursday a evening.
And then the retrieval was scheduled for Saturday morning and they time it, I believe it's 36 or 37 hours. They need to have it. Exactly. After the trigger. So I had to take it at 8:15 PM and then it was at eight, 15:00 AM on Saturday. So I guess that's 36 hours. And I followed that to a tee. Because prior to this, when I was telling Julie and some of my girlfriends, I can't believe they let us do this shit on our own in terms of the injection, because I feel like we could so easily screw it up. And she was like, you know what, Jess, I was listening to a Heather McMahon. Podcast.
And she [00:21:00] went through it and the first time she did it, she said, oh, it didn't work for me. Only got one egg or zero eggs. And she was talking to her friend about it. And her friend was like, well, you did it wrong. So she had to go through it again. And I could totally see how that happened. And I was talking to my sister about it and one of her friends went through it. And same thing where she messed something up with the medication and she only ended up getting one egg because of that. So. All in all it can easily go awry and I can see with all the things you're paying attention to.
You just have to get the timing down right. With all these meds. You have to take certain medications within a certain timeframe every single day. Uh, one of them you have to get within a 24 hour window otherwise you'll opulate so it's, it's a lot to pay attention to. And. Luckily, I knew how important than all of that was.
So I was watching it all like a Hawk and. So I was told, okay. It's time for you to trigger. Which I did. Eight 15, [00:22:00] like I said, Thursday evening by Friday, I was like, oh my God, to get these out of me. And I naively thought and that, that meant that I was going to be so comfortable after. You guys that was not the case, but I'll get there in a moment. So Thursday comes around.
I'm just so I'm really trying to stay in my body on Saturday morning. And even in Friday evening, I could feel that like, okay, anticipation getting really antsy. I really wanted as much as possible. We in my body. And I'm pretty good at staying in my body, but I could feel that my mind was just swirling on top.
I don't know if you've ever experienced that. It was not, I don't know that I've ever experienced peer dissociation before, but. That feeling of where you just really in your head. Your mind is swirling and there's so much of that fight or flight energy in your body. That it's hard to feel like you are 100% like, ah, I ease in that parasympathetic. Rest and digest. I was, I was half.
I could feel all my body, but my head. [00:23:00] Was swirling. And so it wasn't nearly as dropped in as I would have liked, but, you know, That's just what my body was doing to protect me, to get through it, whatever. So Julie came with me, my friend, Julie. To do the retrieval. She picked me up. You have to have someone take you there because you're under Twilight anesthesia.
So it's not fully under, but you don't remember a damn thing. And. We're back there in the room. Once they checked me in. And they're put there. IVN and the nurse is putting it into my forearm. And she puts it in there and she's like, oh, I think, I think this might be a bad one. She sat there and wiggled it around. While the tube was in there for like five minutes being like, oh wait, we got the medication.
Oh, wait it stopped. Oh wait, maybe the single. I was just closing my eyes, taking deep breaths. Like you've gotta be fucking kidding me. Julie, it was looking at me like, are, is this serious? And you're eventually [00:24:00] like, just try a different vein, please. Like just put it somewhere else. So she eventually put it. In the one, right at the crease of my elbow and that worked so much better.
So. That was nice. That that. I was finally working and then the doctor came in. And it was my doctor, the male that I'd been working with previously, he warned me, Hey, I'm not going to be there. On Saturday, but you're going to have another doctor. Who's great. I go in and they were like, oh wait doc, doctor's not in today.
So you have another doctor. I was like, at this point, I don't give a shit, like, let's just do this. And she came in guns blazing. And.
She sat there and basically was telling me that again, I'm at risk for OHSS got it. I've been told this like 400 times at this point, which I get, they need to be thorough.
I appreciate that. But she, I felt that she was blaming me for it. Saying, she said, if I were your doctor, I would have triggered you a date earlier because your estrogen is so high. And you probably aren't going to [00:25:00] get as many, the ratio of mature eggs as most people get, because we had to trigger you early.
I would have liked to have. Seen you go on longer. And I was sitting there in this vulnerable position. About to have the surgery. And I was like, why are you telling me this? There's nothing I can do about it. And you can, my body is what it is. My doctor made the decision that he made. And we're here now.
So like shut the fuck up and let's just do this. I don't need to be told that my situation is wrong. Or that it's just doom and gloom. Let's just get on with it and see what happens. So that was a pain in the ass. And after I didn't really recognize it at the time, I just felt kind of weird. And then I texted Julie after I was like, What's that. Weird.
That's looking back that kind of sits poorly with me. And she was like, yeah, this has been my experience with most Western doctors. My whole life is where they just treat you like a number. They've done it a million times. And like you're an idiot. And your experience in your body is [00:26:00] irrelevant. It's like, okay, well that checks out. Even though I feel like the doctor I work with now, I have a telehealth doctor and he's very lifestyle oriented.
He's in my opinion, a balance of let's focus on lifestyle first, but also. Um, let's focus on. You know, medicine when necessary. Of course. And he does not treat me like that at all. So that is my frame of reference now. Of more traditional allopathic medicine, but. And like I said, my male doctor throughout this entire experience, he was so wonderful.
He made me feel so comfortable. He didn't make me feel like an idiot. He listened to all of my concerns, my questions. So he was great, but this woman was just, she had her own vendetta. I was taken out on me. So.
We go through the. The process, the surgery, and it's again, such a vulnerable thing I'm in there. I'm like, oh God, I have no idea what I mean, I do know it's about to happen to me. [00:27:00] Right. But you're still, your brain is spinning. And I was so I'm so tall, I'm almost five 11. So they bring you back into the table and you have to go into the stirrups, you know, like you do at the OB GYN. And they're like, oh, you're so tall.
We need to move this and that around. And then they, I was like, Okay. Again, Guys, you need to figure this shit out. Like stop telling me things. Just you take care of it, please. And then next thing I know the anesthesia. Anesthesiologists put the mask on me. And didn't say a word and then it was lights out.
And then I woke up. And the resting room. Surgery was done. I was like, oh my God. It always blows my mind. When you get put under how it's just like a time machine. It's very disorienting, but. I felt great after I still was really bloated, but they ended up saying that I got about 50%. They called me the next day to let me know. So I ended up getting 50% and of course that doctor came in again and [00:28:00] said, Oh, we ended up getting more than I thought you would.
So, but it still wasn't as high as the average. And I was like, lady. I get the fuck out of my room right now. It was not what I need to hear right now. And again, irrelevant, like just get out. My account is what it is. The number we got is what it is. And there's nothing we can do about it. So be on your way. So it was discharged, was so out of it and loopy that day. One of my girlfriends took Coda for the day, which was really nice.
And I thought that I'd be a backup and running within a day because a lot of women, I think with average, regular follicle count. R, but because of that, OHSS that high estrogen. I was knocked on my ass for a good five days. I looked like I was six months pregnant. What happens is because, and. Whoever has a medical background or is in this line of business, this line of work. Is listening to me explain this.
I'm sorry that I'm butchering this, [00:29:00] but. When the way it was explained to me is that because they remove the eggs from the follicles. Water and fluid is then sucked up into those follicles. So you're extremely bloated. In that area. And the risk is that because the high estrogen throws off fluid balance that you can be retaining too much water, and then it can eventually go into your lungs. And have all sorts of complications from there.
So I was under instructions to take a lot of electrolytes. So I was slamming element. And drink a lot of water and I followed that and. Overnight. They said be prepared to gain two to three pounds of water a day for a couple of days. Now it's like, oh, gay sounds enjoyable. And I had already. Gone into the surgery about three pounds heavier, which I knew was from water. And then I gained another three pounds overnight.
So six pounds up of just water in it [00:30:00] didn't feel like it was anywhere else. But in my. Womb area and my ovaries. And so that was just extremely uncomfortable. And I was so foggy brained. I couldn't. I could feel that my ovaries were just ginormous. I think they say they swelled to the size of tennis balls. And they're typically the size of almonds. And when I went into for my last ultrasound. The nurse was talking to, to a trainee in there and she was like, C hers are ginormous.
They're basically touching. And I was like, Yeah, I'm not here. You know, I'm just patient zero. Here we go. So. That part of my recovery was a lot more difficult than I anticipated. I did not think about the after effects because I don't hear anyone talking about that, at least in my experience. So. During all in all my egg freezing experience was. Par for the course, actually, I shouldn't say par for the course, because I know some people have a really difficult time with that, but. [00:31:00] I actually felt fine. Except for the physical discomfort towards the end, the last week. Or so five to seven days?
Yes, I was uncomfortable, but I was way more worried about the mental and emotional impact. And that wave hit me after. And they warn you of this, where you get a crash because the hormones complimenting down. And for me, I just felt so out of it. My brain was so foggy. It was like, I could not actually be present. So it's kind of floating through a cloud.
It was very bizarre, but I also knew, okay, this is just my body. Going through what it needs to go through. And the bloating stayed on. I held on to those. Five to six pounds for a couple of days. And then the water started to come off. Which even two pounds of loss of water, all being housed. In your ovaries are in that area.
You cannot imagine the relief. And I can't imagine how two pounds of water now that I have that [00:32:00] frame of reference, I'm like good. Golly. I would take any pound. I was like, sweet relief. Thank you. So after. By two weeks after, excuse me, by a week after. I started my period. I started it that Friday.
So six days after, and they say, once you start your next period, which they'd said would come 10 to 14 days, mine was six days later. Then your hormones start to balance your ovaries, start to shrink, and it was the worst period I've ever had. I had the most terrible cramps I've ever had. I was pounding Advil cause it was the only way I could get through it.
And even through the Advil, I was feeling them. But I, again, I was like, you know, it's just, it just got to get through it. I texted someone in my life. The person who is in my family, who was FaceTiming me. And I was like, Yo, what was your experience with this? Like, is this going to pass this? Are these going to be my period's forever? And she was like, it was just the first one for me [00:33:00] thinking your body will regulate.
And I'm a huge believer in our body's ability, ability to self-regulate. So I'm not doing anything special now after the fact to regulate my hormones, excited from eat well. Rest. Just live a good, healthy, balanced life and trust that my body will do her thing. She knows what to do. I don't need to get my dirty little hands in there and tell her what to do.
So she will balance. And then if you know, in a couple months I find that things still need help. I still need help. My body needs a little extra support then. I will cross that bridge when I get there. And as I told you, I am doing the acupuncture for fertility, just because I want to have my cycle be a little bit more regular.
Anyway. To see if I can get my ovulation to. Move up. Uh, just a little bit, cause it's a little bit delayed. It was prior to this whole process anyway, so. All in all, we are two weeks out from the retrieval process and I feel back to normal. [00:34:00] Which I'm extremely grateful for. And I had great success with the egg retrieval.
I ended up getting 27 eggs, which is, I hesitate to share that number because I don't want anyone to compare, but please just know if you're like, Okay. That's way more than I got again. I don't know whether it's genetics, because a lot of women in my family have had a similar thing, or if it's PCO S. But it was. The luck of the draw for me. And also because of that, I had a much harder time recovering if that gives anybody any peace of mind with the really high. Estrogen.
So if you do not have the really high follicle count, I would assume, I don't know for certain, but I would assume that your recovery process will be a lot. More chill than mine was because mine. I basically took over the next week of my life. I couldn't really do. I mean, I got my work done and I did my normal day-to-day things.
But. It really was consuming. A lot of my [00:35:00] comfort. At that point, just my, my ability to go through my day-to-day tasks. And the last thing I will say. Last two things is. I was really proud of myself in terms of just seeing my body change. So at that time I did feel like, which just happens to me anyway.
Sometimes with PMs is just the way we can view ourselves in our bodies. It's like, oh my God. We just think we're all of a sudden, so unattractive. I did get a little bit of that before I started my period after the retrieval, in terms of my body image, which is so rare for me now, it kind of threw me off guard. I hadn't had those thoughts and so long. But my relationship with my thoughts, not stuff is just so easy now. And I teach a lot of this inside of food.
Freedom evolution is just, okay. Thoughts are just thoughts. Thank you brain. I understand that you feel like this is like a threat right now, but my body will go back to normal. And I ate the exact same way. Do. Throughout the entire process. Some people freak out about, oh my God, my hormones, [00:36:00] weight gain.
That's not how waking works. I didn't freak out about it. I just let my body do her thing. My body has since settled right back to where I was in the beginning, when it comes to weight gain. And all that, Jess. When it comes to the way I see my body and my body did not look like mine. Let me tell you. But I didn't care. It's all transient.
And like I said, I've gained. Not like I've said, if you are familiar with any of my prior situation, when I gained 30 pounds, I definitely did not recognize my body when I looked in the mirror, but I'm. Was able to sit with myself and accept myself at that point, too. So thing is really good, healthy practice.
When you see, when we see our bodies changing and where we don't necessarily recognize what we see in the mirror to still sit with it and say, oh, it's still me. The core of me is still there and that's okay. This is transient bodies are always going to change. That is okay. And if you find yourself struggling with that, whether it's due to weight gain, whether it is due to hormones [00:37:00] and I have never been through pregnancy, obviously. But I know that that can be a struggle for some, my recommendation would be to focus on. You as a person and use it as an opportunity to practice unconditionally, accepting yourself. It's okay to have preferences for the way we look.
Of course. But viewing that as I'm not acceptable as a human being, that is what we want to get away from. And the second thing is, is. In terms of exercise, what I would do differently. Is, I would have exercised as normal. Throughout the first week of injections and there wasn't enough information given to me. From my medical team about that. And I mean to their credit, I should have asked more questions, but. At the rule of thumb, which I should have been aware of because the rule of thumb for pregnancy is ridiculous as well.
Don't lift anything over, you know, 20 pounds. That I would have just continued to exercise is normal, but I just walked throughout those two weeks. And [00:38:00] after the fact, because my ovaries were so huge, they said I'm at high risk for ovarian torsion. So no. Jumping around and doing a lot of bending over. So I just stuck to. Um, slowly getting back into lifting afterwards. Definitely no running.
I was not going to pickleball. And the thought of hip thrusts would have made me vomit. So that was, I just modified certain movements. And it was easy peasy, but I would also absolutely modified once my ovary started to get really big after that five to seven day mark during the injections. I would have slowed down and just on the walking after that point, but that first week, first five days. My experience, I would have just continued to exercise as I normally did. So I know that was a lot that I threw at you and it was a little bit. Up and down, but all in all, I got so much support from the people in my life. Girlfriends or everything.
I do not live near family. I don't have any family in army. So having my [00:39:00] girlfriends support me and be there for me. One of my friend's cat after. After the retrieval. I told you I got it done on Saturday. And then Sunday was a struggle and I kept thinking, okay, I'll be better the next day. And I woke up Monday and I was like, this is not. Like, I need help with Coda because I'm just not a normal human being right now.
And I feel really out of my body and I'm so tired and so uncomfortable. So I texted her really early in the morning and was like, would you mind taking Coda? She has a dog and our. Our pups are friends with each other. She was so sweet. She came over right away. Seven in the morning, picked up Coda, took her all day and then dropped her off.
Gave me cookies when she dropped her off. She was so sweet and that really made all the difference at one day of being able to rest fully rest without having to take care of a puppy was. Everything I needed. And just having Julie support me, having my family member, who was FaceTiming me and other friends. Just checking in on me.
It was [00:40:00] just, girlfriends are really the spice of life. And some people were a little bit surprised that I did it. Mostly people were like, it's your body? Do whatever the hell you want. The guys in my family were like, wow, women are the backbone. My older brother said this women are the backbone of the species.
When I was telling him what I was doing. And I was like, damn right. We are so. Great supportive reactions from a lot of people. And. I initially thought. That I wouldn't get this done. Because I thought my, I already mentioned. Oh, I'll meet my guy and then I won't have to do it, but I also thought. I feel like they just sell us this as a fear-mongering story. That my body's not capable. But I've changed my tune on that.
I do think there's some element of that for many things in medicine where it just feels like a money grab sometimes. But after seeing so many people, women in my life struggle with infertility and the toll that that can take, I thought, you [00:41:00] know what. This is just going to be my insurance policy. This is going to be something that I can, it gives me peace of mind.
And now that I'm on the other side of it. it. really has given me a peace of mind that I didn't even expect. Where I feel at ease that if I do end up. Let's say wanting to have a kid at 39 or 40, and I'm not saying if anyone's listening to this and you're like, why had a kid naturally at 43? Like, who gives a shit?
I get it, but everybody's different. And I won't know until I get there. So that was my mentality. I won't know until I get there. So it's always a gamble for us as women. And it sucks that all of this pressure is put on us. And this is why men pay for first dates. And in my opinion, beyond. Because we have to go through all this shit and all the money that I support over the, for the shit you can damn well pay for those first dates. And chivalry is never dead in my world. Because we deserve it.
You want to carry my boxes? Yes, you do. you wanna open that door? Damn [00:42:00] straight. I do. not need to hold the door open for myself because. We do enough. Okay. So there you have it. If you have any questions about this, absolutely. Don't hesitate to reach out to my Instagram and let me know. I am just the emotional toll.
If it's a ton of response, I don't know what kind of response I'm going to get. Um, I will try to answer as many questions as I can just publicly of course, keeping you guys anonymous and I'll do a question box if I haven't already on Instagram and save to my highlights as well. But if there's any question you have over there and I'm able to answer it, then pop it over and let me know. My Instagram is linked in the show notes below.
Of course, again, I hope this was helpful that it was my only intention to just share one person's perspective. If it does not align with you, if it does not resonate with you, then that's completely fine. And if you are struggling with infertility, my heart goes so, so far out to you and I am thinking of you and sending you. All the left.
I'll see you. guys in the next one.