She Froze 21 Eggs at 37 After Years of Waiting for Motherhood, but Years Later Only One Embryo Survived and Became Her Daughter

In an April 2026 personal essay for Motherwell magazine, Inimai Chettiar reflected on a fertility decision that had begun a decade earlier. As she prepared for her daughter’s first birthday, she found herself returning to a striking number: 21 eggs had been frozen, but only one embryo ultimately survived and led to the birth of the child she was celebrating. What initially seemed like a way to preserve several future possibilities had turned into a much more uncertain journey.

The experience involved years of medical treatment, significant expenses, difficult decisions, and the uncertainty that accompanied each new stage. Chettiar had pursued egg freezing because she wanted to become a mother, even though her personal circumstances had not unfolded as she had expected. By the time she shared her story, she was able to look back on a decision that had preserved an opportunity without guaranteeing the outcome she hoped for.

She Was 37 When She Decided to Freeze Her Eggs

Chettiar began freezing her eggs in 2016, when she was 37 and single. She had spent more than a decade dating with the intention of finding a partner and had long imagined becoming a mother. However, the relationship she had anticipated building a family around had not materialized on the timeline she had envisioned.

Freezing her eggs offered a way to take action without knowing when she might have a child or what circumstances would eventually make that possible. It did not resolve the questions surrounding her future, but it gave her something concrete to work toward. She completed multiple treatment cycles over the course of that year, ultimately freezing 21 eggs.

The Treatment Became a Demanding Part of Everyday Life

Egg freezing required more than a decision and a single medical appointment. Chettiar described administering hormone injections at home, spending more than an hour mixing medications on some evenings, and dealing with bloating and physical discomfort during treatment. She also became closely focused on the changing follicle counts and laboratory results that accompanied the process.

Early-morning ultrasound appointments created another practical challenge, requiring her to take two weeks off work for each cycle, according to her account. Although she was fortunate to have that option, she wrote that she still felt guilty about stepping away from work to concentrate on her future family. The treatment therefore required her to manage not only the medical procedures themselves, but also their impact on her schedule and professional life.

A Late-Night Injection Made Her Situation Feel Especially Difficult

The night before her first egg retrieval, Chettiar received a call telling her that she needed to administer a trigger injection at 11 p.m. The shot had to be given by another person, and she did not have a partner available to help. She recalled feeling humiliated during the exchange with the doctor after explaining that she had nobody to assist her.

A neighbor she barely knew eventually came over to help with the injection. Chettiar described the experience as a particularly painful reminder of the circumstances that had led her to pursue egg freezing in the first place. A medical procedure that might have seemed straightforward for someone with a readily available partner became another challenge she had to navigate on her own.

Twenty-One Frozen Eggs Offered Her a Sense of Security

After completing her treatment cycles, Chettiar was told that 21 frozen eggs could statistically be enough to have two children. She held onto that estimate as she continued considering what her future family might look like. The number appeared to provide a measure of reassurance during a period when many other aspects of her personal life remained unsettled.

That expectation also influenced how she approached dating, according to her essay. She was not simply thinking about whether a relationship might work in the present, but also about whether a potential partner could be part of the future family she hoped to build. In hindsight, the estimate attached to her frozen eggs had given her a sense of possibility that the later stages of treatment would challenge.

The Financial Burden Continued Long After the Freezing Process

Chettiar said the original egg-freezing process cost her $30,000. The medical bill later became connected to an IRS audit that required her to provide proof of the expense and the loan she had used to pay for it. The financial consequences extended beyond the original treatment, making the decision considerably more complicated than storing eggs and waiting for the right time to use them.

Years later, after she had married and was ready to use the frozen eggs, fertilization and embryo transfer cost twice as much as the original freezing process, she wrote. To manage the expenses, she sold her apartment and left a city she loved. Her account illustrates how the financial commitment associated with fertility treatment can continue long after the initial medical procedures have ended.

Using the Frozen Eggs Brought a New Set of Questions

When Chettiar eventually returned to her frozen eggs, the original promise of having several opportunities for a future pregnancy had to be tested in practice. She had received advice from a woman in an online group to thaw the eggs in batches rather than attempting to use them all at once. That approach allowed her to reserve part of the stored supply while seeing what the first group could produce.

The first batch did not yield any viable embryos, according to her account. The news came through a nurse, and the result marked a major disappointment after years of believing that the frozen eggs might give her a stronger chance of building the family she wanted. The number of eggs she had stored could not tell her exactly what would happen when they were finally used.

A Move to a Denver Clinic Led to One Surviving Embryo

Following further research, Chettiar moved the remaining batch of eggs to a clinic in Denver that she believed had a better laboratory. Her essay describes this as a decision made after considerable research and anxiety, although it does not provide comparative clinical data establishing that one laboratory was more effective than another. After the remaining eggs were thawed and used, one embryo survived.

That result changed the direction of her journey, but it was not yet the same as having a child. An embryo still had to lead to a continuing pregnancy, leaving another uncertain stage ahead. Instead of considering how many possible children her frozen eggs might support, Chettiar now faced the question of whether the single surviving embryo would develop into a successful pregnancy.

A Positive Pregnancy Test Came With a Frightening Warning

When Chettiar received a positive pregnancy test, she did not experience the uncomplicated happiness she might have anticipated. According to her essay, the clinic warned that her hormone levels suggested a 95% chance of miscarriage. That was the estimate she says she was given at that stage of her pregnancy, not a general prediction for everyone who undergoes egg freezing.

For the next four weeks, she described living with uncertainty until an ultrasound finally revealed a heartbeat. The finding brought relief after the frightening warning, although it could not erase the stress of the preceding weeks. After the time, money, and effort she had invested, even a positive test had not immediately allowed her to feel confident about the outcome.

The Pregnancy Brought Medical Challenges of Its Own

The surviving embryo eventually led to the birth of Chettiar’s daughter, but the difficulties did not end with pregnancy. She wrote that pregnancy after 40 brought medical issues for both herself and her newborn. Her account mentions emergency-room visits, surgeries, and difficult conversations in hospital corridors without identifying every condition or procedure involved.

Those experiences added another layer of uncertainty to a process that had already included repeated treatment cycles and disappointing results. The birth of a child represented a major outcome, but it did not mean that all the medical concerns surrounding the journey had disappeared. Chettiar’s essay does not provide enough clinical detail to establish the precise nature of each complication, so the broader challenges are the clearest facts available from her account.

Egg-Freezing Numbers Cannot Guarantee a Future Baby

Chettiar’s experience also highlights an important distinction between the number of eggs frozen and the likelihood of eventually having a child. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine, through its patient information on egg freezing, explains that the chances of a frozen egg resulting in a baby depend on factors that include the age at which the eggs were frozen and the number stored. The organization makes clear that egg freezing does not guarantee a future baby.

A larger number of stored eggs can provide more opportunities, but it cannot establish exactly how many will survive thawing, fertilize, develop into viable embryos, or eventually lead to a birth. Chettiar’s experience is one person’s outcome rather than evidence that everyone who freezes a similar number of eggs will have the same result. Her story illustrates why estimates given before treatment need to be understood as probabilities rather than promises.

Medical Experts Acknowledge the Limits of Current Predictions

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s 2021 evidence-based guideline on egg cryopreservation addresses the difficulty of predicting live births from eggs frozen for future use. The guideline concludes that the available evidence is insufficient to tell patients precisely how many eggs they need to freeze to achieve a reasonable likelihood of a live birth. It also reports that outcomes appear to be better when eggs are frozen at younger ages.

These limitations help explain why an estimate that a given number of eggs could support two children might not translate into that outcome for a particular person. Such estimates depend on more than the initial count, and the available evidence does not support one universally reliable number for everyone. Chettiar’s experience demonstrates the difference between a statistical expectation and what happens during an individual course of treatment.

Informed Decisions Require Understanding Both Possibilities and Risks

In its ethics opinion on planned egg freezing, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine emphasizes the importance of explaining the potential benefits, limitations, and uncertainties of the procedure. Patients need information about what the treatment may make possible, but they also need to understand that it may not ultimately result in a child. The guidance highlights informed decision-making rather than presenting egg freezing as a dependable way to control future fertility.

Chettiar’s account does not establish that her own medical counseling was inadequate, and it would be unjustified to draw that conclusion from the outcome alone. Her story instead shows why understanding uncertainty matters even when treatment offers a genuine opportunity. A decision can be carefully considered, financially costly, and personally important without giving someone control over every subsequent result.

Her Experience Connects Personal Parenthood With Broader Family Issues

Chettiar’s professional work focuses on policies affecting families and workers. According to the official biography published by A Better Balance, she became president of the organization in 2024 and leads work involving paid family and medical leave, paid sick time, flexible scheduling, and protections against discrimination involving pregnancy and caregiving. She is also a civil rights attorney with more than two decades of experience in legal advocacy.

Her fertility story does not suggest that one person’s experience can answer every question about reproductive choices or the challenges of raising children. It does, however, show how medical treatment can intersect with employment, finances, relationships, and the support available to someone building a family. Those practical issues remained part of Chettiar’s experience even as she moved from freezing eggs to pregnancy and motherhood.

One Surviving Embryo Eventually Became Her Daughter

By April 2026, when Chettiar was preparing for her daughter’s first birthday, the outcome of the years-long process was no longer simply a possibility. One embryo from the eggs she had frozen had led to the child whose birthday she was planning. The milestone brought her attention back to the uncertain path connecting the decision she made at 37 to the family life she had eventually reached.

The story is not a guarantee that egg freezing will work for others, nor does it mean that the difficulties along the way were insignificant. Chettiar’s experience involved substantial financial sacrifices, repeated disappointment, and medical challenges that continued beyond the successful pregnancy test. Her central lesson is that freezing eggs can preserve a possibility for the future, but it cannot promise how that future will unfold.