Sunset saleMary Fitzgerald updated her fans over the weekend on her fertility journey and encouraged them to think about their own fertility as a result.
The reality star and her husband, Romain, were married during the second season of the hit Netflix reality show. While the couple – she’s 41, he’s 30 – are not quite ready to expand their family yet, Fitzgerald was open about her family plans and egg-freezing experience.
While she is already a mother to a 23-year-old boy, she performs fertility treatments to fertilize her eggs so that when she and Romain decide to have a baby, they have the best possible chance of a successful pregnancy.
Related: Christine from ‘Selling Sunset’ says she and her baby almost died during birth
“An update on my embryo freeze journey,” she captioned the heartbreaking video she shared on Instagram. “It was definitely not the news we were hoping to get and although it is very disappointing, we just keep our heads down.”
In the video, Fitzgerald explains that none of the eggs they harvested and fertilized were considered good quality to plant, which means she and Romain are in first place again.
She tells her fans that if they are considering freezing their eggs, they should do so as soon as possible.
“PLEASE consider doing this at the youngest possible age if you know / think you want children!” she insists. “I share my experience in the hopes of helping anyone interested in doing this process.”
What is egg freezer?
Choosing to preserve your fertility by freezing your eggs is essentially the same thing as stopping your biological clock. More and more women are deciding to freeze their eggs because they may not be ready to start a family yet, but want the best chance of having children in the future — regardless of age.
Egg freezing can also be an option to help preserve the fertility of patients undergoing treatment for cancer or those who plan to switch. This is an option that every woman should consider by the age of 35 if they want children but are simply not ready yet.
Dr. Mark P. Leondires tells Motherly the best time to freeze your eggs is when you are young. Although it is possible for women over 35 to successfully freeze their eggs, it is optimal to complete an egg recovery before age 35, due to the decrease in fertility that begins around that time.
Egg freezing occurs after the patient has taken fertility medication to increase the number of developing eggs (ovarian stimulation). After your doctor determines that the patient has the optimal amount of mature eggs, a “trigger shot” is given to prepare those eggs to receive sperm. An egg retrieval – a process of 20 to 30 minutes – is performed approximately 36 hours later, before ovulation.
Related: 8 things to know about egg freezing, from a fertility specialist
As for Mary Fitzgerald and her husband, they plan to do the whole process again.
“But it’s a learning curve and a reminder that even though you look young and feel young, your eggs are still the age you are,” she says. “And so if you’ve focused on your career or have not met the one yet, you should really consider freezing your eggs when you’re young.”
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