The desire to have children when the timing is right, not when our biological clock dictates, is the reason thousands of empowered women freeze their eggs. Egg freezing has revolutionized how and when women have children giving them a deeper sense of control and fulfillment in their lives.
‘Valentine in the Morning’ 104.3 MYfm radio host, Jillian Escoto, has been vocal on air and off about her recent egg freezing journey at HRC Fertility Encino with Dr. David Tourgeman. She is openly eager to get the word out about early female fertility preservation and the options made available for single, working women who may just not be ready to have children yet.
Jillian recently sat down for a chat with HRC Wellness Coach Pricilla Rodas Hurtado to tell her egg freezing story and hopefully inspire other single women to take the leap.
PRICILA: For those of us maybe who don’t know, you tell us a little bit about yourself like your age and what you do for a living?
JILL: I am 37 years old. My name is Jillian Escoto. But everybody calls me Jill. And I’m on ‘Valentine in he Morning’ on 104.3 MyFM, born and raised here in Southern California, went to CSUN for school, and majored in communications and had been with iHeartRadio since 2003. I’m currently single. And that’s what led me to HRC.
PRICILA: When did you first realize that you kind of wanted to embark on an egg freezing journey?
JILL: I always had that life plan set up. Since I was little I knew I was going to be married by this age, have kids by this age, and you plan it all out in your head. And as we all know, that never happens. Clearly it does sometimes. But your plan never never works out the way you intended it.
So, um, you know, I was in my 30s in my early 30s. And in a relationship, and I thought like, okay, you know, this is for us. I want to have children, I want to be a mom. And that relationship didn’t work out. So then I was single again, and now in my mid 30s. And I had always heard about egg freezing and in vitro and all of that. And I have friends who have gone through it. But in my mind, I always, I don’t know why, but I just thought like, oh, when I’m 40 I’ll think about is my eggs. I don’t know why. I don’t know where that age came from.
But last summer, I was at my gynecologist appointment. And I just happened to ask her, “when when should I get serious about freezing my eggs?” And she said, we should have been talking about this years ago. So you need to do it now. And that just blew my mind. I had no idea. I thought I’m too young. But that is definitely not the case. And Valentine, who is the main host of our show, he and his wife came to you guys 13-14 years ago. And so I knew HRC.
PRICILA: Did you have any worries or reservation about an egg freezing journey?
JILL: I think having friends and family members who have gone through this helped a lot. But I think the one thing that I was concerned about was getting the information, getting the results back of what my body was going to be capable of doing. Because I’d never really thought about infertility or you know, what my body would be able to do. And so that was scary but I was ready. And I think because I had some time to think about it since last summer when I eventually came for my consultation. I think that it’s just the unknown of what exactly I’m going to be putting my body through and what exactly the process is. Having family who are there helped, too. I wasn’t intimidated. I wasn’t nervous. I was like, okay, this is this is something I can do with their support as well.
PRICILA: When was your first HRC consultation? And what was it like?
JILL: Maybe a little over a month ago, two months ago was my first consultation and I went to the Encino location. And as we were walking in, it had a feeling like I was at a spa, it’s just so peaceful there. It was just so bright, and just so beautiful. And I immediately just felt relaxed. And I felt like almost, you know, being welcomed without even talking to anybody just yet, just walking into the lobby. I was like, “Oh, this, this is a nice, it’s a good vibe in here.”
My first consultation with Dr. T, I felt like I was his only patient. I felt like he wasn’t rushed. He actually took the time to sit me down and we walked through my medical history and what I’m looking for, and you know, where I’m at in my life. And I just remember loving him immediately. I felt just so encouraged and this positive feeling from him. He had like this PowerPoint presentation and he was showing me slides. And it was broken down so well to where I was completely able to understand exactly what happens to my body with every cycle. He was able to break it down. We went for an exam right away and I was not I wasn’t expecting that. I thought like, okay, we’ll get like some paperwork and I’ll go home and read about it. No, he explained everything to me, right then and there, and he’s like, “you want to get started?” “I was like, yeah, let’s go!” So we had an exam and what he saw wasn’t typical with what he should be seeing with a woman my age, it was on the lower end. And he was very direct about that, but in a way where it wasn’t discouraging. It was like, “okay, you know, this is what you have, typically, a woman, your age should have this many, but you have this, and you know, that’s okay. All it takes is one egg. That’s all we need.” And so it was reassuring and just felt like just so encouraging and very positive. And I left there with hope. And that was that was the biggest thing for me. There’s hope that you know, this can happen.
Listen to Pricila and Jill’s entire interview below.
Make sure you follow us on social media to catch the latest updates on Jill’s egg freezing journey! If you’d like to schedule a consultation with Dr. Tourgeman or any of our fertility specialists throughout Southern California, please call 866-HRC-4IVF or click here.