curious why you're holding out for GW? other clinics could've done repeated cycles in the time since which you've been waiting

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am surprised you are unable to reach anyone ay GW Fertility. Are you calling the number ending in 2520? I have been a patient with them since early 2021. I believe Dr. Lalwani is still there if you are looking for female REs.

Funny you mention it! Yes, that's the number I've been using and the woman I spoke with just said to call back mid-November for a December/January appointment. She said that between losing a doctor and their new medical records system that's caused the delay, so feeling a bit more optimistic even though they've said to "call in a month" since I started calling in spring/summer 2021 - crossing my fingers!

No promises that it will actually help in your situation but the new record system is a real issue at GWMFA in general. They haven’t been able to schedule one of my time sensitive appointments that should be *next week* yet and I’ve been a patient since 2018 in various departments. Anyway, good luck to you, OP! I hope you find something that works soon.

Thank you! Just called today and they again pushed me back to January/February but seems like they have the new doctor (Habibter? might have misheard) onboard and they're working on his schedule, but I got some good information: $7250/cycle, about $3-$5k for the meds, and $500/year for storage (assuming on-site), so that's good to know.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am surprised you are unable to reach anyone ay GW Fertility. Are you calling the number ending in 2520? I have been a patient with them since early 2021. I believe Dr. Lalwani is still there if you are looking for female REs.

Funny you mention it! Yes, that's the number I've been using and the woman I spoke with just said to call back mid-November for a December/January appointment. She said that between losing a doctor and their new medical records system that's caused the delay, so feeling a bit more optimistic even though they've said to "call in a month" since I started calling in spring/summer 2021 - crossing my fingers!

No promises that it will actually help in your situation but the new record system is a real issue at GWMFA in general. They haven’t been able to schedule one of my time sensitive appointments that should be *next week* yet and I’ve been a patient since 2018 in various departments. Anyway, good luck to you, OP! I hope you find something that works soon.

PP...always good to hear a egg freezing success story. Good luck to you!

Honestly, there is nothing particularly special about GW for egg freezing and you shouldn't need a referral to get an appointment with a clinic.

I froze my eggs at SG several years ago and eventually used them successfully at CCRM (long story). I also did a consult at GW.

They are all perfectly good places for a woman in her early to mid-30s to freeze their eggs. You should be able to just call and request a consult.

As part of the consult they will run a series of tests to check the state of your fertility (FSH, AMH, AFC, etc.). If all looks good, then any of these clinics should be fine. I might give a slight preference to SG because of their long experience and high volume with egg freezing. If test results look concerning (i.e. premature ovarian failure or something like that), then you will want to do your homework to find the best doctor or clinic for that concern.

Everyone was pretty cool with my being single - including when I decided to use the eggs as an SMBC. The only time i got a comment on my weight was when I proactively asked what I could do to increase the number of eggs with round 2 - and losing some weight was a recommendation.

And on the topic of round 2, the one thing I wish I knew is that at any clinic your first egg freezing cycle is a bit of a crap shoot. The RE's don't know exactly how your body will respond until you try. Some people are lucky and get enough eggs for 1-2 live births on the first try. But for most people, it takes two or more and they learn a lot with the first round to improve things the second round. That's the one thing I wish they prepared me for. Thankfully my little one came from cycle 2. Egg freezing is the best decision I ever made.

Best of luck to you!

Anonymous wrote:I am surprised you are unable to reach anyone ay GW Fertility. Are you calling the number ending in 2520? I have been a patient with them since early 2021. I believe Dr. Lalwani is still there if you are looking for female REs.

Funny you mention it! Yes, that's the number I've been using and the woman I spoke with just said to call back mid-November for a December/January appointment. She said that between losing a doctor and their new medical records system that's caused the delay, so feeling a bit more optimistic even though they've said to "call in a month" since I started calling in spring/summer 2021 - crossing my fingers!

I am surprised you are unable to reach anyone ay GW Fertility. Are you calling the number ending in 2520? I have been a patient with them since early 2021. I believe Dr. Lalwani is still there if you are looking for female REs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi all - I am a 34 single woman (fed employee) - a bit overweight but active otherwise healthy and looking into freezing my eggs with money saved from the student loan forbearance (figure I should do this now because I can always save for a house later if I never have a child).

I hope for the option to be a mother if I find a partner, but I'm not 100% ready to be a SMBC yet (I may well be ready in a few years - definitely open to it but haven't made up my mind one way or another).

It seems the options are: 1) CCRM, 2) Dominion, 3) SG, and 4) the GW clinic. I've heard great things about the GW clinic but can never get in since they're not taking patients. I'm new to the city so I have a PCP but no GYN yet - is there any way to get into the GW clinic? I live in DC and have a car so I can drive farther to VA/MD if needed.

Just curious to hear others' experiences re: egg freezing as single women in their 30s, esp. from any fed ladies out there! Any pro tips about the clinics/health care professionals? Who will be kind and not fat-shame or shame me for not having a partner (and yes, asking because my friends in other cities have had rough experiences)?

Thanks in advance!

Could you get your PCP and your GYN to be at the GW MFA? Might be easier to get a referral that way. All of mine are there and it is pretty convenient (currently pregnant from GW IVF). That said, I wasn't aware that GW wasn't taking new patients.

Thanks! I don't have a GYN; I have a PCP who's on maternity leave so I'm seeing her temp for PCP/GYN appts until she's back. I asked the clinic for a referral and they said it wasn't needed due to my insurance, but I literally can't reach anyone at GW MFA via phone and I've been calling since the beginning of summer 2021!

Anonymous wrote:Hi all - I am a 34 single woman (fed employee) - a bit overweight but active otherwise healthy and looking into freezing my eggs with money saved from the student loan forbearance (figure I should do this now because I can always save for a house later if I never have a child).

I hope for the option to be a mother if I find a partner, but I'm not 100% ready to be a SMBC yet (I may well be ready in a few years - definitely open to it but haven't made up my mind one way or another).

It seems the options are: 1) CCRM, 2) Dominion, 3) SG, and 4) the GW clinic. I've heard great things about the GW clinic but can never get in since they're not taking patients. I'm new to the city so I have a PCP but no GYN yet - is there any way to get into the GW clinic? I live in DC and have a car so I can drive farther to VA/MD if needed.

Just curious to hear others' experiences re: egg freezing as single women in their 30s, esp. from any fed ladies out there! Any pro tips about the clinics/health care professionals? Who will be kind and not fat-shame or shame me for not having a partner (and yes, asking because my friends in other cities have had rough experiences)?

Thanks in advance!

Could you get your PCP and your GYN to be at the GW MFA? Might be easier to get a referral that way. All of mine are there and it is pretty convenient (currently pregnant from GW IVF). That said, I wasn't aware that GW wasn't taking new patients.

Not a fed but froze my eggs at 34 at Columbia Fertility--did find a husband since then and now back there a few years later for IUI and likely eventual IVF.

I went through SG as a fed a couple years back. As pp said, virtually nothing was covered by insurance so that’s annoying. Otherwise, SG is a machine but I found it to be an effective one. I would recommend having a dr at one of the smaller clinics as your primary (I did Sibley), then going wherever is most convenient for the run-of-the-mill monitoring. That’s what I found worked best for me. Your dr should be very clear about how many eggs you should freeze to have best odds of having the number of kids you want, but there are never any guarantees, as you know. You’re relatively young though (I was late 30s) so fingers crossed all goes smoothly.

Oh as for shaming, I certainly never experienced any judgment on being single. I think most egg freezing patients are single. On weight, depending on your BMI, you should be prepared for some straightforward (maybe blunt is the better word) discussion of how that may impact chances of success. That just is what it is - this is a very probabilistic business at most of the larger clinics and you’ll find most drs are pretty upfront about various factors that might impact success. For some of us that’s age etc, for you it might be other stuff. I found that for all this process, trying really hard not to take stuff personally was key to getting through it. Especially for freezing, it’s just a backup plan so keeping the emotional investment as low as possible is in your best interests.

Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:I froze as a Fed at around your age (but not in DC) and it was a very smooth experience. No one shamed me for anything, and instead my RE congratulated me for being proactive. The crummy thing about Fed insurance (I had BCBS Standard) is that literally absolutely nothing related to egg freezing is covered (other than some of the bloodwork that you can get done from your PCP prior to the cycle starting). I had friends in the private sector who had companies that covered the full cost of multiple cycles, so that was frustrating for me to see. Good luck! You might want to ask about a multi cycle discount, if you are open to that. One thing I did not ask about is "how many eggs are likely to lead to X number of babies?" There's a calculator online that now aggregates the data for this question, but I wish I had thought about that more when I froze.

Agree with this PP. I did IVF and someone likened it to the hunger games in terms of how many X make it to Y stage and so on.

Like PP, absolutely zero coverage on any fed health plan for any of this.

I froze as a Fed at around your age (but not in DC) and it was a very smooth experience. No one shamed me for anything, and instead my RE congratulated me for being proactive. The crummy thing about Fed insurance (I had BCBS Standard) is that literally absolutely nothing related to egg freezing is covered (other than some of the bloodwork that you can get done from your PCP prior to the cycle starting). I had friends in the private sector who had companies that covered the full cost of multiple cycles, so that was frustrating for me to see. Good luck! You might want to ask about a multi cycle discount, if you are open to that. One thing I did not ask about is "how many eggs are likely to lead to X number of babies?" There's a calculator online that now aggregates the data for this question, but I wish I had thought about that more when I froze.

I went to GW for fertility treatments as an SMBC and saw Dr Humm, who was super friendly. I think she’s moved on somewhere else now but they (and she) were definitely single-person-positive.

Hi all - I am a 34 single woman (fed employee) - a bit overweight but active otherwise healthy and looking into freezing my eggs with money saved from the student loan forbearance (figure I should do this now because I can always save for a house later if I never have a child).

I hope for the option to be a mother if I find a partner, but I'm not 100% ready to be a SMBC yet (I may well be ready in a few years - definitely open to it but haven't made up my mind one way or another).

It seems the options are: 1) CCRM, 2) Dominion, 3) SG, and 4) the GW clinic. I've heard great things about the GW clinic but can never get in since they're not taking patients. I'm new to the city so I have a PCP but no GYN yet - is there any way to get into the GW clinic? I live in DC and have a car so I can drive farther to VA/MD if needed.

Just curious to hear others' experiences re: egg freezing as single women in their 30s, esp. from any fed ladies out there! Any pro tips about the clinics/health care professionals? Who will be kind and not fat-shame or shame me for not having a partner (and yes, asking because my friends in other cities have had rough experiences)?

Thanks in advance!