For a mere $20,000, you can have your eggs frozen and stored, ready for use at a later date. And I'm not talking about the farm variety.
A lot of women I know have no intentions of having children any time soon. Most of us are young, working women who would rather focus on our careers and gaining financial stability before popping out babies. And more and more couples would rather cherish their time together pre-children, and put off getting pregnant for a few years after being married.
But the fact of the matter is as women age, the quality of our eggs decreases. With each passing year, the chance of having a happy, healthy pregnancy also decreases. So some women are turning to oocyte cryopreservation — freezing their eggs.
This is not an easy process. According to prenancy-info.net, it goes something like this:
First, you are given injectable fertility drugs (gonadotropins) daily to stimulate your egg production. Just before you are set to ovulate, your eggs will be retrieved in the same type of procedure that is used for IVF (invitro fertilization). Once the eggs have been harvested, they will be frozen with liquid nitrogen and stored in special freezers until you decide to use them. A newer technique that is still being tested involves flash-freezing the eggs.Wow. Flash freezing. Like vegetables?
I can tell you right now that oocyte cryopreservation is not for me. Besides the fact that I think it's creepy, I could think of a lot better things to spend $20,000 on (a new car, a down payment for a house, lots of new clothes). But hundreds of women who have done it so far disagree.
Would you ever consider freezing your eggs? Why or why not?
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12 comments:
I myself am an egg freezer. And I feel lucky to have been able to do it. And honestly, the last thing I would call the experience is creepy. I think what you must mean when you say creepy is that it is technologically 'artificial' in some way. But this is true about a lot in medicine. Is it creepy that Lance Armstrong's children come from frozen sperm? Or for a woman to preserve her chances to conceive if she has cancer and needs treatment that may render her infertile? I doubt you think either of those are creepy.
I totally respect, that like anything, it's not for everyone --a unique mix of decisions: how strong the desire to have children is, one's current relationship situation, resources, philosophy, etc. But as 38 year old, who was maybe a bit of a late bloomer I am extremely thankful for the option.
The truth: I’m hoping not to need these eggs, that I’ll get pregnant naturally when the time is right. These eggs are my back-up plan, but I’m not going to tell THEM that.
In the clinic, the lobby is full of couples with fertility problems or women preserving their eggs before chemotherapy. But here I am, healthy with all my parts in order. It’s just that my life hasn’t lined up perfectly with my body’s abilities. Statistically--by 41-- over ninety percent of my eggs will be toast.
People ask how it feels to have preserved my eggs. I’ll tell you: it’s fantastic, like a weight has lifted. No matter what happens, I feel extraordinarily lucky to avail myself of the most advanced technology. Medicine aims to optimize health. And for me, reproductive longevity is an important part of that picture.
So now I’ve got 14 eggs living in something that looks more like a propane tank for a barbeque, than a home for my children to be. But I think of them like hope - like hope in a petri dish.
Megan -- Thanks so much for sharing your story. It's great to hear from someone who actually has done it. I'm glad this is something that has worked for you, and who knows, maybe I'll change my mind about it as the years go by. Assuming you are from the area, were you able to have this done in Middle Georgia or did you go elsewhere?
Being a recent college graduate myself, I think it is pretty difficult to entertain the idea of freezing my eggs. It’s difficult enough worrying about paying off loans let alone putting $20,000 into freezing my eggs. Thinking about investing in freezing my own eggs would be going against everything that society has ever so subtly inundated us into believing we all need and should do. We should meet the love of our lives, have big white weddings, and then have babies. Just think about all of the reality television shows based on this concept, “I propose”, “Bridezilla”, “A Wedding Story”, just to name a few. But what about us? The women who invested a great deal of our time and money into our educations? Should we have to put our careers and potential futures on hold because we need to have children right away. Don’t get me wrong, I want to meet that perfect person and have children. But I don’t think that I need to do this on society’s time.
This is why I think that we should at least start thinking about egg freezing. Egg freezing gives us the potential to not have to worry about our biological clocks. A car is something that value continually depreciates, something that could go out of style, rust out, get into an accident, or become completely obsolete (who knows with the way technology is going). But investing in your eggs is something completely priceless. It is investing in yourself, your own future, something that could never be bought if it is too late.
-Marie
Yeah. Perhaps your view will change with time. Who knows? We're all so different. The irony is: a woman in her twenties, such as yourself, is at the best/better age to take advantage of this. You typically need less medication the younger you are (which makes it less expensive, as the medication is an expensive part of the process). But because when you are in your 20's you know you are fertile-y prime, it feels less immediate, which is quite understandable. And egg freezing is not yet normalized as a standard of care for young women. (I think this will eventually be something women will discuss with their doctors at annual check ups..) But the more women know about how relatively easy it is, and that it is a viable option ,the more flexibility she has for her future --no matter what she decides.
About your question: I froze my eggs in Los Angeles. I flew to the clinic for the retrieval, as there wasn't an extend fertility clinic where I was living yet. (That's who I froze my eggs with). Funny that you can fly to do that right?
Glad to get there on time, otherwise I was looking at one very expensive--not to mention elaborate-- period. (that's a joke) One last thing: on the subject of cost, your pricetag is about 7,000 dollars or more too high. Freezing eggs is waaay more affordable than a hundai, with a longer shelf life, and no depreciation when you drive them off the lot!!
fondly, Megan
What happens if you go through the process of freezing your eggs and you never use them? Do you feel like that was a waste? I am currently pregnant and went through fertility treatment because I cannot make and release eggs on my own. I never considered freezing my eggs because to be honest we wanted to keep things as natural as possible. I was lucky and able to just take pills and have shots, but still had to have sex to get pregnant. I always wanted to go through a pregnancy and have my "own" children, but if it wasn't possible I was ready to adopt.
Another thing anonymous said was society wants us to follow a pattern and why can't we be working women, etc.? However, I think we follow a lot of that ourselves. If we didn't care so much about what society thought, we would do what we felt was right. I will say, I do have a career and as happy as I am with it, I am even happier that I am pregnant and going to have a child. I am sick of people saying it isn't the right time for them to have kids. You know what? There will NEVER be a perfect time to have kids. Just like there is never a perfect time to buy a house, a new car, or get a pet. We live our lives waiting for the right moment for everything to happen and we are just wasting time. A friend of mine wanted to wait five years after she got married to have kids, not because she didn't want them, but because she wanted to pay off her student loans. Now seven years later, she has gone through every fertility treatment possible and may never be able to have kids. Now, I am not saying that it is her fault, but we so often let opportunities pass us by because we take matters into our own hands and do them when the time is "right." Sometimes we are so selfish in planning every step of our future, we don't stop to think about what we will do if things don't happen according to our plan.
Has anyone thought of the aftermath, though?
I haven't formed an opinion on the subject, but what if a 50 or 60 year old woman wants to use her frozen eggs?
Will she be able to have a healthy pregnancy and be a good parent? It might sound age-ist, but I think the controversy not only lies with the procedure, but also with the care of the child.
I think the medical advances can be great if used properly, but there will always be someone who wants to push the envelope, and I don't necessarily think that is in the best interest of the child.
I think this is a great topic! Much more matures than some of the others. I think this a real issue that women in their mid to late twenties should really be concerned about.
I agree you need to do much more exciting topics than those of recent past which are too teeny bopper. The person who mentioned the topics were boring made a great point !
Hahaha...way to pat yourself on the back Anonymous!! And P.S. we are still waiting for those fantastic topic ideas you have! : )
And just a note to all — our readers are all different ages, which means our subjects have to accomodate that. If some seem too "teeny bopper" one day, and mature the next, then we are doing our job which is to relate to everyone!
I don't think it's creepy at all. It's something I will definitely consider if I'm still single in 3-4 years. It's not the way I hope things end up happening. But I'd be willing to pony up $15K or so as insurance of sorts in case I have to wait 10 more years to find the right guy and be ready for a child -- which I definitely want.
Note: I'm positive I wouldn't have felt this way when I was in my mid-20s. It's amazing how we change as we get older...
WELP...IM JUX 13 YEAR OLD...I GO TO A SKOOL DAT IS KALLED YOSEMITE MIDDLE SKOO LIN FRESNO CALIFORNIA...i WAZ WONDERING WHY PEOPLE WOULD FREEZE THERE EGG...IT SEEM LIKE THEY ARE ADPOING THE EGGS...WELP JUX WANNA SHARE SOME OF MY VERY OWN COMMENTS TO THESE GUYS OR WHOEVER GIVEN AWAY THERE BABIES OR EGGS...ka.kaka.vangie...rocks ur world...
WHY WOULD I EVEN FREEZE MY ONLY AND AND SPECIL EGG....YOU JUX DONT NOW HOW OTHER PEOLPE FELT HAPPY OF HAVING A CHILD....IT CHANGE EVERYTHING YOU WANT EVEN YOUR LIFE...SO TAKE YOUR SWEET TIME OF YOUR SWEET LIFE...ka.kaka.vangie rocks ur world...AGAIN...
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