Egg Freezing Near Fullerton

From your first consultation to the retrieval is usually about four to six weeks, and the active medication phase within that is roughly 10 to 12 days. The timeline depends partly on where you are in your cycle when you start.

Expect one consultation, a testing visit, then usually five to seven short monitoring appointments during stimulation, plus the retrieval itself. All of them are at our Irvine clinic, 3500 Barranca Pkwy, Suite 300, Irvine, CA 92606, about 19 miles from Fullerton. Monitoring visits are scheduled in early morning blocks.

There is no single correct number, and any clinic that gives you one without testing you first is guessing. The target depends on your age at freezing, your ovarian reserve, and how many children you might eventually want. We set a specific target with you after your testing, and we are direct about whether one cycle is likely to reach it.

No. Each month your body naturally recruits a group of eggs and all but one are lost. Stimulation medication rescues eggs from that same group rather than drawing from your longer-term reserve. Egg freezing is not understood to bring menopause forward.

Vitrified eggs are held at cryogenic temperature, where biological activity effectively stops, so eggs do not continue to age in storage. Eggs frozen at 32 are still biologically 32 when they are thawed. Children have been born from eggs stored for many years. Your storage agreement with us sets out the term, the annual renewal, and your options at each renewal.

The retrieval is done under sedation, so you will not feel it. Afterward most patients describe cramping and bloating similar to a heavy period for a day or two. The injections themselves are subcutaneous and most patients find them more manageable than expected.

It depends on why you are freezing. California’s SB 729 took effect in January 2026 and requires fully insured large group plans, meaning employers with 101 or more employees, to cover infertility diagnosis and treatment including IVF and medically necessary fertility preservation. Freezing ahead of chemotherapy or another treatment that threatens fertility generally falls under that. Elective egg freezing to preserve options for later is not mandated by SB 729. Separately, many large employers, and tech employers in particular, now offer fertility benefits through programs like Progyny or Carrot that do cover elective freezing. That is worth a direct question to your HR or benefits team before you assume you are paying out of pocket. Our billing team will also verify your benefits as a courtesy. Read more in our guide to SB 729.

We do not apply a hard age cutoff. What we do is have an honest conversation about what a cycle is realistically likely to produce at your age and reserve, and whether a different path would serve you better. That conversation happens before you pay for anything.

You decide. The options are continued storage, discarding, donating to research, or donating to another patient. Your storage agreement sets out each option and nothing changes without your written direction.

It is not too early to test, and it may well be early to freeze. Those are separate decisions and we treat them separately. Testing tells you whether your reserve is typical for your age or lower than expected, and that result, rather than your birthday, is what should drive the timing. Waiting is a legitimate answer and we will tell you when it is the sensible one.