Vault: Was Melissa able to freeze her eggs?

Summary

The Bert Show – Vault: Was Melissa Able to Freeze Her Eggs?

Episode Air Date: July 7, 2026
Podcast Host: The Bert Show
Main Speakers: Bert, Melissa, Laurie, (and others from The Bert Show cast)

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Episode Overview

In this heartfelt and informative episode, The Bert Show shines a spotlight on Melissa’s deeply personal journey to freeze her eggs (and ultimately embryos) as part of her family planning process. With honesty and humor, the show discusses the emotional, financial, and scientific realities of IVF and egg retrieval, weaving in listener stories and demystifying the process for their audience.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Listener Call-In: A Miracle Baby Story

• [01:31] - [01:45]
  Laurie calls in with her six-month-old baby (conceived via IVF), wanting an update on Melissa’s egg retrieval journey. Laurie expresses gratitude:
  • “She’s really our miracle baby.” – Laurie ([01:43])

2. Melissa’s IVF Backstory: Decisions and Delays

• [01:46] - [04:23]
  Melissa recounts how discussions with her partner, Katie, about future parenthood led to considering egg freezing.

  • Financial and insurance challenges delayed the process.
  • Ultimately, they decided to freeze embryos (eggs fertilized with donor sperm), a process with higher scientific success rates.
  • Katie will undergo a similar process in the future, but Melissa went first due to her age.

  Key Point:

  • “A woman’s body releases one egg during her cycle... What IVF does is, it tries to push the woman’s body into creating more than one egg.” – Melissa ([03:21])

3. The Egg Retrieval Process

• [03:21] - [04:23]
  Melissa explains the medical and emotional rollercoaster of IVF treatments over six weeks, including pills and hormone shots.

  • She underwent the egg retrieval procedure under anesthesia.
  • “We were able to get seven eggs out of my ovaries. Yay, my 40-year-old ovaries.” – Melissa ([04:20])

  Notable Moment:

  • Celebrating a successful retrieval at age 40 with above-average results.

4. From Eggs to Embryos: The Next Step

• [04:23] - [05:50]
  The eggs were immediately fertilized and monitored for embryo development.

  • The “champagne is still on ice” as not all eggs turn into viable embryos.
  • “I’m hoping that at, you know, because there’s some that you go through this whole process and nothing comes from it... it is science is fascinating to me that they allow couples to have families that wouldn’t normally have them.” – Melissa ([05:11])

  Insight:

  • Melissa reflects on how emotionally challenging and expensive IVF is for so many couples.

5. The Emotional Toll of IVF & Fertility

• [05:50] - [06:32]
  Hosts discuss how infertility can be isolating and emotionally taxing, often hidden from public conversation.
  • Bert remarks: “I think she goes through a tougher time than the dude does in some cases.” ([06:12])
  • Melissa adds: Men face stigma, too, especially around low sperm counts.

6. Sperm Donation: Matching and Secrecy

• [06:32] - [07:22]
  Melissa shares the nuances of donor selection and how some sperm banks match donors physically to the intended father.

  • Example: “If Bert’s sperm was the issue, the clinic would find a donor who looked like him” for the couple’s privacy.

  • “There’s so much about it that they just don’t want to share that that’s what they did.” – Melissa ([07:22])

7. First Family Portrait: Embryos

• [07:22] - [08:06]
  Melissa shares a lighter side: requesting photos of the embryos before freezing—“our first family portrait.”

  • The cast jokes about doing an “awkward family photo shoot” with the petri dish.

  • “We should wear really ugly sweaters… instead of matching outfits, smiling with your embryos and holding them.” – Bert & Melissa ([07:54] - [08:06])

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• Melissa: “We were able to get seven eggs out of my ovaries. Yay, my 40-year-old ovaries.” ([04:20])
• Melissa (on science): “It is science is fascinating to me that they allow couples to have families that wouldn’t normally have them.” ([05:11])
• Bert: “I think she goes through a tougher time than the dude does in some cases.” ([06:12])
• Melissa (on donor matching): “They would find a sperm donor that matched your looks... and they would never tell that child that daddy was not their biological daddy.” ([06:49])
• Melissa (humor): “It’s our first family portrait... they will take a picture of them.” ([07:22])

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [01:31] — Listener Laurie calls with her IVF miracle baby.
• [01:46 – 04:23] — Melissa explains her and Katie's journey to egg/embryo freezing.
• [04:23 – 05:50] — Egg retrieval results and the emotional impact of IVF.
• [05:50 – 06:32] — Emotional toll and social stigma of infertility.
• [06:32 – 07:22] — Sperm donation, matching, and privacy considerations.
• [07:22 – 08:06] — Family portrait joke and bringing humor to the experience.

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Tone & Takeaway

The episode is compassionate, candid, and laced with the Bert Show’s signature humor, offering listeners both practical insight and emotional validation regarding fertility journeys. The team’s willingness to share Melissa’s real-time IVF updates helps normalize the conversation around infertility, making a complex and often isolating topic accessible and less daunting.

Perfect for:

• Anyone considering IVF or egg freezing
• Supporters and friends seeking to better understand the emotional journey
• Listeners who enjoy real, unfiltered conversations about modern family building

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Transcript

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[C]

The Birch Show Here's Lori. Good morning, Laurie. You're on the Birch Show. What's happening?

[A]

Good morning.

[D]

I'm sitting here with my six month

[A]

old daughter that was conceived through IVF

[D]

and I was wondering how Melissa's egg retrieval went. Congratulations.

[B]

Thank you.

[D]

She's really our miracle baby.

[C]

We're going to have to reset this whole thing.

[D]

It was a couple years ago that Katie and I were having discussions about our relationship and where it was going. And I've told you before that Katie was like, was meant to be a mom and it was like you just understood that if you were gonna spend the rest of your life with her, she was gonna be a mom. And I Knew that going into it, and I was fine with that. And so a couple years ago, we were talking about it. We weren't ready to have children, but she was concerned about my health and about my age and saying, look, if we wait too long for this decision, you're gonna be out of the. You're not gonna be a factor in it. And I want to be able to use your, you know, your eggs in part of our reproductive however we do it. And she said, I want you to have biological children in our relations. Brought up the idea of freezing my eggs. And so when we did more research, we realized that it was really freezing embryos. That is more scientifically proven to be better, because freezing eggs sometimes doesn't quite work. And also, it's very expensive if your insurance doesn't cover it and mine does not. So we had to spend the last two years in making the decision on a sperm donor, as well as saving up money for the procedure. And so here we are right before Burt's Big Adventure. Actually, you know, like, the day before Burt's Big Adventure is when I started the hormonal treatments. It's been going for six weeks and includes pills. It's been including shots. I'm going first. Katie's going to do this process maybe next year, is what we're looking at. But basically, a woman's body releases one egg during her cycle. And what IVF does, it tries to push the woman's body into creating more than one egg. Now, how many eggs, we don't know. It just depends on each woman's body on how many eggs that's gonna be. So yesterday. That's where natural twins sometimes come from. Right. If a woman releases two eggs and they're both fertilized. Yes. And that's fraternal twins. Those are fraternal twins. Correct. So sometimes your body naturally does that, but this time, the hormones are there to make as many eggs as possible, because that helps in kind of the gamble of trying to get pregnant. Later on, you insert one or two or three of the eggs. And if it doesn't work, you want to have to be able to have more to try the process again. So anybody that goes through in vitro fertilization, it is a emotional, tragic, sometimes very expensive decision for couples to make. And so I've learned so much about it going through this, but the purpose for me is just to simply freeze my eggs or freeze my embryos, rather. So yesterday I was not on the show because the procedure takes place first thing in the morning at my clinic. And I had to go under anesthesia and we did the egg retrieval and ends up that we were able to get seven eggs out of my ovaries. Yay, my 40 year old ovaries.

[C]

What is the average amount that most get?

[D]

It depends on. The average is 10. It depends on your age. So the fact that I got seven at 40 is a huge, is a huge thing. Women in their 20s usually, you've heard us do commercials for egg donation. A lot of times it's because women in their 20s can produce far more eggs when they go through the same process. So but for seven at 40, I'm really excited and. But the champagne is still on ice, still not popped yet. Because now yesterday what happened is they took the eggs and then they match the eggs with the sperm. So they fertilized the eggs yesterday. They wait for 24 hours in order to check the eggs back again to see which ones took basically which ones are going to begin growing and becoming an embryo or actually are an embryo. And usually that's not all the eggs that are taken out. So the likelihood that all seven of these eggs are going to be embryos is not. There's not a huge chance for that. And so today is the day I'll find out how many of those actually become embryos that we put into the freezer. So I'm hoping that at, you know, because there's some that you go through this whole process and nothing comes from it. And even if I had eggs, you know, or embryos, and later on, you know, when we decide to get pregnant, they may not take. So, you know, it is science is fascinating to me that they allowed couples to have families that wouldn't normally have them. Like she said, that's her miracle baby. But there's so many couples that have just been devastated by, you know, spending six figures and just trying to have a baby.

[C]

So I've talked to, we have friends that have gone through this whole process before also. And Melissa was talking earlier that it's sort of like a lot of people don't talk about it because it's a pretty painful, emotionally painful experience to go through. Because if you think about it, you know, ideally you want to have kids. So the thought is always in the back of your head and then you start trying and there's a lot of frustration there and there's a lot of emotional disappointment when it doesn't happen as quickly as you want. And then you take it to the next step. And then medically, when you find out that one in the couple is incapable of helping in this area. There's a real emotional. I mean, that's tough. That's really tough to deal with, especially if it's the woman. I think she goes through a tougher time than the dude does in some cases.

[D]

Well, I think there's a lot of guys that don't want to talk about the fact they have a low sperm count. Like, a guy's not going to brag about that. You know, I mean, there's. Even when we were going through the sperm bank, which we did not choose, we actually chose somebody we know. But that's also an odd. An odd process to go through a sperm bank. But they have a matching program at sperm banks where, like, for instance, let's bring up Bert and Stacy. Let's say they tried to have children, couldn't have children. And Bert, you're the. You know, your sperm is the reason. And there was nothing they could do in order to get you to have a sperm count well enough to impregnate Stacy. Stacy would give them a picture of you. They would find a sperm donor that matched your looks, and she would get that sperm and then they would have children. And they would never tell that child that daddy was not their biological daddy.

[C]

Wow.

[D]

Because it looks like the father.

[C]

I could tell you in that scenario, Stacy would look for somebody way better looking than them.

[D]

But I'm just saying that for somebody. But for some couples, it's so there's so much about it that they just don't want to share that that's what they did. So, yeah, I'm happy to talk about it because to me, it is a miracle. The miracle of science. Like one thing they also are going to do today. I believe it's today that if we do have, knock on wood, but we do have embryos that they're able to take a picture of them. So I've requested for a picture to be taken of these embryos before they're in the freezer. So Katie and I teased about it. It's our first family portrait. Because they will take a picture of them. Science is sound like you guys are

[B]

going to be leaning in on it or are you going to be. You should put that up on awkward family photos. We should wear really ugly sweaters.

[D]

Photoshop. Instead of matching outfits, smiling with your embryos and holding.

[B]

Holding a little tiny peach tree dish can see your breath. So it's obvious you're in a freezer. Get it? The bird show. What's going on, everyone? It's bluff here. And we're driving through the states in the Bluff Mobile and the best thing that we can do is play our favorite casino style games on Small Spin Quest. They have over a thousand games including live dealer blackjack and craps. With tons of slots and unlimited options. You can get a $30 coin pack for just $10. For new users sign up today. Go to spinquest.com right now Spinquest is a free to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details.

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