“You’ve got better chances of a live baby if you freeze an embryo, but then if I meet ‘Mr Right’ ... then I wouldn’t wantto use the egg frozen with someone else’s sperm.”
It also costs more to go down the embryo route.
At Fertility Associates, embryo-freezing with a donor varies in price from $18,890 to $22,370, depending on the level of medication used.
“I would probably freeze my eggs without an embryo ... Because I could meet someone,” she said.
Minutes earlier, in a warm room on the far side of the Fertility Associates clinic in Ellerslie, Auckland, Dr Olivia Stuart took Carville’s first appointment.
Dr Olivia Stuart at Fertility Associates in Ellerslie. Photo / Carson Bluck
While the session covered the process of egg-freezing, the costs, an ultrasound and discussions around lifestyle changes, Stuart began the appointment with a query about embryos.
“You’ve come along to talk about egg-freezing today, but you’ve probably already heard that embryos have a higher chance of a baby for you,” she said.
“When you don’t have a partner, we have sperm donors ... we can take [eggs] from your body and fertilise them with donor sperm.”
Stuart explained Carville would get details about their appearance, childhood and education.
“Basically everything except a photo of them,” she said.
Carville then asked: “Can you [freeze] half by themselves and half with embryos?”
This, Stuart told her, would be an option.
Hayley Carville at her first appointment at Fertility Associates in Auckland on Tuesday. Photo / Carson Bluck
Stuart said the chances of Carville having a baby would be the same if she froze her eggs now, or if she froze them next year.
This came as a surprise to Carville, who had been worried she may have “left it too late”.
“You’re still in your early 30s. Even in the 35 to 37-year age group there’s only a mild drop in the pregnancy chances,” the doctor said.
This was reassuring for Carville, who said in her experience people hit 30 and all of a sudden “panic”.
“The first key message is there’s no hurry,” Stuart said.
During the appointment, Stuart also revealed the results of Carville’s anti-mullerian hormone (AMH) test, which helps estimate a woman’s ovarian reserves. A lower figure indicates fewer eggs.
Carville took the test while she was on the birth control pill a few weeks ago, which Stuart said can artificially lower the result.
Her result, which may have been affected due to her contraception, was just below the 25th percentile for her age group.
Stuart has recommended she go off the pill and re-test, which Carville plans to do.
Egg-freezing for future fertility was introduced in New Zealand in 2003 and has grown rapidly in popularity since.
Fertility Associates charges $13,130 for a first egg-freezing cycle, not including the cost of the initial consultation or the anaesthetist.
Storage fees for the frozen eggs vary, depending on how long the eggs are on ice. For example, 12 months costs $460 and five years $1290.
Dr Olivia Stuart and Hayley Carville in an appointment room at Fertility Associates in Auckland. Photo / Carson Bluck
Stuart said an egg-freezing cycle is similar to the first two weeks of a woman’s natural cycle.
“It starts with the first day of your period and on the second day you start taking injections of FSH [follicle-stimulating hormone], which is the same hormone our brain produces every month to make one or two eggs grow. You’re injecting yourself with high doses to try to make as many eggs [as possible] grow.”
The injections are done daily and once monitoring shows there is a “good number of good-sized follicles on your ovaries containing a good number of eggs” that’s when egg collection occurs.
“That’s usually around the middle of your cycle, on day 12 to 14. We pop an IV line in, we give you strong sedation and pain relievers and with a vaginal ultrasound probe inside up against each ovary and with a needle we take all your eggs.”
From there, scientists examine the eggs and freeze the mature ones.
Carville now has to wait two months to get her AMH levels re-tested without the presence of a birth control pill.
Once the results are back, she plans to try her first cycle of egg-freezing.
This is the second in a series of written and visual stories about Carville’s egg-freezing experience. Next week the Herald will look at the cost and availability of egg-freezing around New Zealand.
Katie Harris is an Auckland-based journalist who covers issues including sexual assault, workplace misconduct, media, crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2020.
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