Freezing Your Eggs? Tell Your Story!

Documentary about egg freezing is seeking candidates to share their egg freezing story.

Please email:

• Your egg freezing story.  What is different about your story than another person's?
• Full Name
• City, State, zip
• Email address
• Mobile number
• A short, 30 second cell phone video introducing yourself.

Email submissions here.  We look forward to hearing from you!

Egg Freezing Parties: All the Rage?

Have you heard of egg freezing parties? Well, it's not exactly a celebration as much as it is an egg freezing information session with food and libations...so I guess it's more like an educational happy hour. And who doesn't like happy hour, right?

Me, Susanne Rico & Lindsay Taub

When I first heard these events existed, I thought about my own egg freezing research phase and asked myself, "Would you have gone to one of these things?" The truthful answer is, "No way."  BUT now that I've had the opportunity to be a part of one, I've definitely changed my mind.

Here's the low down:  Along with a panel of three doctors available to answer questions, I was one of two ladies who shared their personal egg freezing experience with a room full of wonderful women.  A rainbow of sixty women attended -- some listened, some asked questions and some just tagged along to support a friend.  

Health Smart on KTLA

I'm excited to share that I was a part of an egg freezing piece on KTLA's Health Smart.  My interview was short, but I was happy to share why I chose to freeze my eggs.  Oh, and I really like the "Froze Her Eggs" title below my name; it made me giggle.    

Click here to check out the KTLA5 segment.  Let me know that you think!  

Egg Freezing Storage Fees: It's Time to Pay Up

Since completing the egg freezing process, I've been anxiously awaiting my first bill for storage fees.  I'm not gonna lie,  I may have called the fertility clinic a couple times to double check my billing address.  I was only slightly paranoid that my invoice was lost in the mail and the nine eggs I worked so hard to get were tragically defrosting in some dark corner of the lab....poor, little, shriveled, eggs....Of course, that's not the case and if I let it my mind wander too far, it makes up all kinds of ridiculous stories.

I finally got the invoice and I've never been so happy to pay a bill in my entire life!  From my research, I knew the average cost for storage fees ranged from $400-$600 a year.  I was pleasantly surprised to see my total amount for a year of storage....Guess how much it was?  $365.  Yep, a dollar a day to store those babies!  Totally worth it!

Chill and ABC's 20/20 with Aditi Roy

It's been an amazing week!  Yesterday, I was interviewed by Aditi Roy from ABC's 20/20 to be a part of a segment on egg freezing.  The show will also feature clips from Chill!  It's been an exciting journey and I'm so thrilled to have the opportunity to share it with you! I'll keep you posted on the air date!

A huge thank you to those who have supported this project from the beginning:  Heidi Durrow, Lesa Lakin, Mandi Forehand, Justin Kuhn, Mary Peralta and last, but not least - my mom!

All the Cool Kids

A friend of mine shared the article, Want Cool Kids?  Freeze the Embryo, and it made me smile. My favorite quote from the piece:

"Personally, I think it really says something about a person who starts our as a chunk of ice.  It's as if they're already badass even before they reach the fetus age.  They've conquered their early beginnings with flying colors and eventually burst onto the scene as if to say, 'TA-DA! Here I am world!' That's a pretty impressive way to start a life, and there's nothing even remotely inferior about it."

Give it a read and let me know what you think.

Facebook and Apple Offer Egg-Freezing "Benefit"

There's been a ton of talk in the last couple weeks regarding Facebook and Apple adding egg freezing, for non-medical reasons, to their long list of employee benefits.  In January 2014, under surrogacy benefits Facebook began covering the procedure up to $20,000. For Apple, the perk falls under fertility benefits, also covers up to $20,000 and begins January 2015.

How amazing is that?!

Since the news was announced, the egg freezing articles are popping up in my Google alert like no body's business. One afternoon, I ventured into the world below, the place they say to never go -- the comments section. Wow!  Mastin Kipp was right, "That IS where the real action happens."

Perusing through the comments (Man, people can be harsh!), two main themes struck me:

Chill and The Mixed Experience Podcast

Last Monday, I joined the lovely New York Times best-selling author, Heidi Durrow, as a guest on her podcast, The Mixed Experience.

She invited me to talk about my involvement in the Mixed community and share more about the egg freezing, movie-making journey that is Chill.

Click here to listen to the episode.  You can subscribe to the podcast for free on iTunes.

I'm also excited to let you know that I will be joining Heidi on some future episodes as a co-host! Stay tuned for more info.

Just Call Me Lefty

A month ago, during my weekly softball game, I broke my hand. My right hand. Like the hand I use to sign checks, flip pancakes, brush my teeth and style my afro.

For those who don't  know me that well, I'm a list maker. When I have stuff to do, it goes on the list.  When it's done, I happily cross it off the list. Sometimes I even complete a task then write it on my list just so I can cross it off.

After surgery, I seriously struggled with being left handed.  I wanted to operate like normal, which was impossible so I spent the majority of my time frustrated.  I was in pain, unable to cross stuff off my list and it was maddening.

After trying and failing to open a bag of Sun Chips one-handed, I threw myself face down on the couch and screamed into a pillow. Yes, like a three year old.  I know, it's just a stupid bag of chips, but that day it was the twentieth thing I attempted and couldn't do. For crying out loud, I just wanted to eat those chips!

How Long Should I Wait?

Here we are well into 2014, and I'm just making my first post of the year.

During my daily peruse of CNN.com, I came across a very interesting article titled -- The 'Big Lie' in Putting Off Pregnancy.  Of course, I was intrigued so I dove in.  After reading the second paragraph, I wanted to give Tanaya Selvaratnam, author of The Big Lie:  Motherhood, Feminism and the Reality of the Biological Clock, the world's biggest high five!

*graph from Management of the Infertile Woman

Like me, she believes in the importance of promoting fertility awareness EARLY.  If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: Women need to understand the full scope of their fertility BEFORE struggles with infertility begin.  "If we know better, we do better." That's what Oprah says, right?  Gaining fertility awareness early, allows women to make the best choices for themselves and their future families.

You should definitely check out the article, but here are a few thought-provoking quotes: