My therapist spoke to me about if I would want to freeze my eggs and how important biological children was to me. I told her that I would not want to carry a child, but having my own biological child is important to me so I would like to freeze my eggs. She told me that frezing them is not always succesful and asked how I'd feel about that. I told her that I know it might not be possible to have my own biological children but I would like to adopt because children have always been in my life plan. They're about the only thing that is in my life plan if I'm honest. She said I need to think about this before I go on T as they'd have to arrange for my eggs to be frozen because of fertility problems once I've been on T. All of this information has kind of overwhelmed me. I'm only young and I'm single and I have no idea how my life will pan out in terms of children. I would like to have my eggs frozen so that me and my future partner have that choice, even if it might not be successful. Having my own biological kids is important, but if it doesn't work out that way then that's how it is. I'd love any child, blood or not, like they were my own.

I'll admit that I'm not entirely sure what freezing my eggs includes. Does anybody know the procedure and how it works? 

You may find the language used to be a bit triggering:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oocyte_cryopreservation

Thanks Devlyn!

Question Joey: in the USA, doing that procedure and freezing the eggs can be very expensive. Is this covered by the UK's health insurance?

I know just a wee bit about donating eggs, I was considering being an egg donor before (it's good money!)

http://www.health.ny.gov/publications/1127/#involve

QuoteFirst, you will take a series of fertility drugs (some of which must be injected) to stimulate your ovaries to produce many eggs at one time. While using the drugs, you will have frequent medical tests. Removing the eggs from your ovaries involves a minor surgical procedure. After you recover from egg retrieval, your part of the treatment cycle is finished.

http://www.donoregginfo.com/html/recipients/process.html

QuoteShortly after the recipient hormone therapy begins, the egg donor starts preparation for egg donation. She is given daily injections of follicle stimulating hormones (FSH) to stimulate her ovaries. These hormones will cause the ovaries to produce a greater number of mature eggs than would naturally occur.

The doctors at the Center for Assisted Reproduction carefully monitor the effects of hormones given to both the donor and the recipient to ensure that responses remain synchronized. For the four to six days before the donor eggs are harvested, these tests may be required every day for the donor. The recipient typically has one or two visits during the last week of donor stimulation.

Retrieving Donor Eggs

After the donor has been placed under sedation, one of our physicians will remove the donor eggs using a thin needle inserted through the vagina and guided by ultrasound. The donor receives anesthesia via intravenous sedation to minimize any discomfort.

http://www.rscnewengland.com/fertility-services/frequently-asked-question.cfm

QuoteDoes the egg retrieval process hurt, and how soon after can I return to work?
You will receive light IV sedation during the egg retrieval process, but you may have some discomfort afterwards. Every person has a different experience. Most individuals are able to return to work the next day, and others may need an additional day to recover from the procedure

I don't think I want to freeze them anymore...

I'm not sure if it's covered, probably not. I will probably discuss this further with her next time. Thank you for all the information.

These are hard decisions, and you'll be facing others. We'll be here for you.  Hugs, Devlyn

I agree that it's often something that comes up but not at all the same as freezing sperm, which everyone thinks of. I think the correlation is only that they are the two things that when they get together can make a baby. But everything about how hard how expensive, etc. is different.

--Jay

They asked me the exact same question, and I'm afraid you're not going to like the answers. I'm so sorry and this is likely to be triggering, but you need to know the whole story.

Firstly, whilst it is possible to freeze your eggs, you'd need to go on high doses of female hormones for a couple of months so that they can mature a whole bunch of eggs at once and harvest them.

Secondly, egg harvesting & storage is not covered on the NHS, and when I looked into it a couple of months ago the costs were something like £2,000 to have it done in a local hospital.

Finally, they said the eggs are only usable for about 4 years after harvesting because they contain a lot of water so they deteriorate quite badly if they're frozen. So if you didn't find a partner & start a family in that time, they'd be completely wasted. The best way to store your genetic material long-term would be to have your eggs harvested and fertilised now, because they can store embryos for much longer than unfertilised eggs.

I had to go through a grieving process because I've always wanted another child, but going on T and transitioning is much more important to me.

Another option is to have some ovarian tissue removed and preserved, but that too is hellaciously expensive and not covered on the NHS. Alternatively, when the time comes you could ask a male relative (such as a brother) whether he'd be willing to donate sperm to fertilise your partner via IVF, so your kids would bear some relation to you.

Thank you for your honesty. You're right, I'm not going to like the answers, but it's the truth, and I need to accept that. My god I'm in so much pain. I wish it didn't come to this. I guess biological kids aren't part of life's plan for me, and I need to accept that. I say I don't mind adoption, which I don't, but this has hit me much harder than I expected. How do you grieve for something you never had? This just hurts so much.