“I froze my eggs during lockdown”

Celebrity hairstylist and IVF babble supporter Ondine Cowley has revealed she spent her lockdown creating a fertility ‘insurance policy’ by freezing her eggs

The 36-year-old director at Nicky Clarke gave an interview to the Daily Mail and also to Vanessa Feltz’s BBC London show about her reasons for going through what she called an ’emotionally challenging journey’.

Ondine said she had decided several years ago to freeze her eggs and had started the process but sadly she lost her father and put it on the back burner until she felt emotionally ready.

She told Vanessa: “Unfortunately, my father passed away and I wasn’t in a good place mentally.

“I decided to look at it again just before I entered a new relationship and then lockdown happened. I didn’t want to continue with it during lockdown as I did not feel safe, so I put it on hold again. The relationship did not last and we split amicably. Then during the second lockdown, I contacted The Fertility Partnership and told them I wanted to go ahead and they got me in very quickly. They were incredible. Time flew so quickly.”

Vanessa asked Ondine about the process and how she went about it

Ondine said: “It is mentally very challenging. Injecting yourself daily. The journey is emotionally and hormonally very hard. I’ve got 11 frozen eggs in the freezer. It is an insurance policy. It is only 25 percent sure. But it is better than nothing.

“Lockdown is a fabulous time to do it. It is better to do it when you are not dating anymore. The message I want to give out to women is don’t wait to meet the right man, just go ahead and get on with it.”

Asked about the cost of the process, Ondine said it cost her about £5,000

“It cost me £5-6,000 to go through the process and £300 a year to keep them (eggs) stored.

“Women in the US do it as often as getting a pedicure. They do it several times to make sure they get enough eggs as an insurance policy. We need to make it more accessible to women.”

Ondine has recorded her egg freezing journey with Boston Place Fertility clinic  (part of The Fertility Partnership) for IVFbabble and you can view her journey on IVFbabbletv.com next week!

Have you frozen your eggs during a lockdown? We’d love to hear your story, email mystory@ivfbabble.com