Having a career and a family, is the balance women have tried to master for decades.
National studies show women are waiting longer to have children and pushing the limits on their biological clock.
Angela Lachica is 34 years old and has hit her stride. She’s the owner of the athlete management firm, Lachica Sports, advising athletes in the NBA, MLB and NFL.
“I’ve been so fortunate to get to work with the top names in the industry and I just love what I do,” she said.
Lachica would also love to start a family, one day.
But since she’s not ready yet she decided to freeze her eggs.
“Essentially it’s taking the keys away from Mother Nature and saying I’m driving this bus, and I’ll be in control of how this happens,” Lachica said.
“The prototype is a woman who is single, and hasn’t found that life partner to raise her family. And yet is intelligent and realizes that time matters,” Dr. Michael Kettle said.
We followed Angela through her egg freezing process, which is a lot like IVF.
It involves blood work, the birth control pill and several ultrasounds to get follicles synchronized.
Then, there’s a two week supply of take-home hormone injections.
“I was very, very fatigued, day in and day out I just didn’t have the energy,” Lachica said.
Once follicles reach their target size it’s time for egg retrieval.
“I’m barely coming out of anesthesia and Dr. Kettel grabs my shoulder and says ‘we got 22 eggs!’ He was so excited,” she said.
But the biggest deal, Angela said, is feeling in control.
She admits, those two weeks of hormone injections were rough, but for her, it was worth it.
“It’s just this freedom. It’s nice to know that all of my options are open at this point,” Lachica said.
As for the egg retrieval, it’s done in an operating room, under anesthesia. It takes about 20 minutes, and there’s no incision.