Anyone taken medical leave for egg freezing?
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I have done 3 egg retrievals (and 3 FET, 2 pregnancies), and of course everyone reacts differently but I cannot imagine taking off more than 2 days (day of and day after) for an egg retrieval. I was always fine just taking off the day of and then working from home the day after. In the scheme of IVF, pregnancy, etc. it is really the easiest part to me. Working through pregnancy is soooo much worse. FWIW I was 32 and 35 for my retrievals.
I’m genuinely curious about this as I have my first consultation scheduled soon. I can’t imagine being pumped full of hormones and working a heavy biglaw week. How bad does it get? I’m not so worried about the surgery, but I am worried about snapping (or worse, crying) at a client or coworker?
Really appreciate the replies here! This makes me feel a little less nervous.
I didn’t but I scheduled it at a time I wasn’t super busy. The hormone crash after can be very real - my brain felt insane/random crying for a couple of weeks after
My understanding is that it’s a 1 day procedure? Why take leave?
I haven’t but would recommend it if you’re usually in a constant state of stress and anxiety. I was tracking my hormones before pregnancy and noticed notable negative trends with hormone changes during busy periods where I’d get less sleep and high cortisol levels.
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F
It’s highly dependent on each person’s body and everyone has different reactions. I didn’t take leave during the injection process (and didn’t really feel anything until the last 2 or so days). Took the morning off for the 10-20 minute procedure, went back to work remotely in the early afternoon. It was the recovery process that gave some discomfort for a few days (slow moving, can’t do strenuous activities). The doctor did mention that stress and fatigue are not ideal for maximizing egg count though
FWIW, if you need to get a medical certification to use FMLA, I am not sure if a repro endo would be comfortable doing that for more than just the day of retrieval or so. I could be wrong but just something to think about.
F
I took one day off for the procedure. The next day, I purposely did not schedule any meetings.
I have a question about this since I was looking in to it. I’ve heard that egg extraction can a) not be successful and b) destroy other viable eggs and/or reproductive parts. Is anyone able to speak to this who has gone through the process?
(a) Yes, it’s common to need more than one round of retrieval if you don’t get enough eggs or enough good eggs (or good embryos if freezing embryos). Results are typically better for subsequent cycles as they learn more about how your body reacts and what timing will work best for you. (And like OP mentions, there are things you can do to improve your chances the first go around — prenatals, CoQ10, limiting alcohol).
I had a concern about (b), but learned that’s essentially not how it works — the eggs harvested are ones your body would have lost that cycle anyway. https://www.ccrmivf.com/services/ivf-fertilization/egg-retrieval/#:~:text=However%2C%20over%20the%20course%20of,cause%20one%20egg%20to%20develop.
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I did two rounds where the first was easy and the second more challenging. The second involved more symptoms before and after the retrieval.
I say take the leave if it would make you more comfortable with it. You have paid medical leave as a benefit and you are entitled to it with a doctor’s support.
Take all the time you need to prepare and recover from the retrieval. It may be easier to just block off two weeks in your calendar for it, for example, rather than decide in the moment.