in·vest·ment/inˈves(t)mənt/

Noun:

A thing that is worth buying because it may be profitable or useful in the future.

Many women have thought about being a mom for a long time. It may have started when as teens they sassed their own mom and said,”When I have kids, I’ll never treat them like this!” Or it may have started when they were dating in college and wondered what their child would be like depending on their current date. But as the 20’s and 30’s roll on through, many women wonder what would be the best timing, the right number of kids, and how their life may look with the addition of a family.

But life doesn’t always work out like we envisioned. I find myself talking with patients everyday that are redefining a successful path to live their life. For some, this may mean choosing to freeze their eggs now, so that they have more options in the future in regards to starting a family. As it stands now, the late 20’s and early 30’s are the best times to have a family from a fertility perspective. For some, even 35 may be too late. Yet in this world of advanced degrees and opportunities, the right marriage partner or job or lifestyle may thwart the dream of starting a family at the best time from a medical perspective.

So what is a woman to do? Well, invest in your future. You’ve been told this for some time now, but you thought it just meant educational or financial or lifestyle choices. I’m telling you it also includes your eggs. We finally have the technology and the outcome-based scientific studies to say that freezing your eggs now, at the right clinic, will result in a pregnancy rate comparable to if you did IVF (in vitro fertilization) today. What that means is that success rates may be between 30-60%, depending on your age.

Now, a caveat: if you are already over 40 years old, you may not get this same benefit. It may already be too late to freeze eggs and freezing embryos may be more successful.

But if you are less than 38 years old and have good fertility markers, you are an ideal candidate. Ideal fertility markers include an FSH <10.0, an AMH >1.0 and an antral follicle count >8. This means that you would be able to batch around 8 or more good eggs with fertility treatment. At RSC we offer a $99 Fertility Check for women considering egg freezing and IVF.

This treatment requires about 10 days of shots, 1 egg retrieval (a small surgery) and a bit of cramping and bloating. Your eggs are then frozen in batches and stored for the future. The technology we use at RSC is vitrification. This is the latest technology that allows for a survival rate of 90% when the eggs are thawed. Typically fertilization rates are 70% and pregnancy rates are about 50% if you are <35 years old (and possible 30-50% if you are older.)

RSC can boast that we have proven success with our technology through DEBUSA, our donor egg bank. But better than that, we can be proud of our ability to be part of the solution when life takes you on a different path. By freezing your eggs today, you can plan for your family in the future.

This is not without cost and risk, thus the dictionary definition of an investment I gave you at the top of this page. It may cost you around $8000 for the treatment and possible $2000 for the medicine. And if you decide to use the eggs in the future, it may cost you another $7000. (This adds up to a typical IVF cycle.) But wouldn’t it be worth it? Wouldn’t it be worth trying something now, to give you more options in the future to have the family of which you have dreamed?

I certainly think we should use technology to our benefit – not let it control our lives. I think we need to be responsible and recognize that this is not a guarantee – there are few guarantees in starting a family. And while too many options can sometimes be overwhelming (think: toppings at the frozen yogurt store), I think this is an option worth investing in.