Hi there,
Have you ever considered egg freezing?
Today I am bringing you Tatyana, who froze her eggs because she wanted to have control over her fertility. In this podcast, we go through why she did it, what nobody told her about the process, and what she’d do differently.
What is egg freezing actually like — the decision, the process, and what happens after?
This episode can be listened to on all major platforms, including Spotify, Apple and YouTube. If you prefer reading, I have summarised it below.
I share snippets from our conversation and short-form content on Instagram. Follow us there:
Why egg freezing?
“I always knew I wanted children, but I never knew when and how, and I kind of didn’t feel like the timing was ever right. I was building my career, then I was moving to another country, then I was building a business, and I want to have all those things and have children at the same time, but I just don’t think we can be good at many things at once necessarily. So just making sure that I can get back to that topic when the timing is better for me made me look into it.”
The moment that actually made her decide:
“My final decision was made when I listened to a podcast — one female practitioner was saying it’s not just having children later in life, there are also cases when your child gets sick, you know, at the age of 12, and unfortunately then you lose the child, or something happens and you have a new family and another man in your life, and you still wish to have children with this other man, but maybe age-wise you’re not in the bracket anymore. So there are so many life situations where you wish you had your eggs frozen and you didn’t. It wasn’t necessarily ‘hey, I’m running out of time now,’ but more like ‘hey, I don’t even know what’s going to happen in 10 years, so I want to make sure that I am as flexible as I can be.’”
On the two clocks that don’t match:
“I was in the middle of running my company, fundraising, potentially growing it into a multi-million dollar business. And I felt like my children, whoever I give birth to at the time, would not have the attention they need — because I have another baby, which is my business.”
The process — and the key events that didn’t go to plan
On the timeline:
“For me the process was probably longer than for a regular person simply because I was busy. The moment that I decided to do it was October 2024, and I’ve done it in July, August 2025... from that point onward when I decided until it was completely done, it was probably around three weeks, so it’s not that long.”
On how little she was told before starting:
“I’ve got to say that no one explains very well how to do these injections. I came home with a box and I opened it and it’s like a big syringe with some lances that you can replace, but ultimately no one told me how to do it. I had to watch probably like three YouTube videos.”
On realising egg collection was actual surgery:
“What I didn’t realise is that it’s still a surgery, because everyone is just saying ‘collection.’ I definitely did not imagine on that day that I’m going to have full body anesthesia and I’m going to be in a clinical ward... No one kind of explained this to me. I thought that I’m going to be awake, but actually they sedate you completely.”
On the numbers dropping at every stage:
“I was seeing 23-24 eggs for both ovaries, which was really good, and I asked her, is it good? She was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s really good. But then even when they collected seven eggs, they told me it was really good, which I Googled, and it wasn’t right. So the question is, what is the purpose there?... I don’t even know if I had done something wrong... I don’t really know if I could have changed the outcome had I done more research prior.”
On the doctor swap on the day of the procedure:
“They changed the doctor that I was actually supervised by — on the day of the procedure she just went on holiday, and they replaced the surgeon on that day to the woman that I’ve never met in my entire life. I know that the person that I trusted my eggs with wasn’t even there on that day.”
On what recovery actually felt like:
“I truly thought I’m going to go home and go work out. I booked a Pilates class, and on my way to Pilates I realised I can barely move, the bloating was getting so hard... I took a flight to another country because I was already booked on holidays, which was another mistake — for seven days on an island I was basically laying in bed drinking electrolytes with a mix of all of the GI issues you can possibly have. I think for me that was another learning — you need to give yourself some time off after a procedure like that. I want everybody to know that you need to book a week of light, at-home activities for yourself.”
What she wishes for the future
On doing it again:
“I’m definitely going to do it again. I’m going to do some more research about the place. I already got new recommendations for another practice... I’m also going to see how can I make this process better for myself and perhaps for others — I’m thinking about doing some little blog about it, or maybe just posting some article online for other women, maybe even in Berlin, to not follow the same footsteps and mistakes that I’ve made in my first attempt.”
On employer-paid egg freezing as a benefit:
“I just paid six grand out of pocket, and I wish my employer — who incidentally is me — would offer it as a benefit. There’s so many women that feel it’s pressure on them to keep their job and not choose their family, and how can one be pressured into not having a family if they want one? For me it’s just giving you an option. I really don’t get it how it can be seen as something negative. People should really just stop spiralling and think about this — it’s just an option. You don’t have to take it, but it’s an amazing option to have for the future.”
A personal note
What struck me most in this conversation wasn’t the medical detail it was how often Tatyana used the word “intransparent.” Not painful, not scary, just quietly under-explained at almost every stage. That’s a pattern I hear again and again from women navigating their own health decisions, and it’s exactly why I wanted to share this conversation in full rather than just a summary. If you’re considering egg freezing, I’d treat this as a starting list of questions to ask your own clinic upfront, not a reason to be put off.
If you’d like to hear the full conversation, including more detail on the clinic search and the questions worth asking before you start, the episode is linked above.
See you next Sunday, Francesca
Disclaimer: We are all unique in our own ways, so this information is for educational purposes only. This issue reflects one person’s personal experience and is not medical or clinical guidance. This shouldn’t be viewed as medical advice at any point. Please further consult your healthcare provider about your health needs.
