Stephaine Stark's Egg Freezing for Every Women

I was given the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Stephanie Stark's book Egg Freezing for Every Woman. If you're contemplating egg freezing, this book is a great place to start your research.  It's clear, concise and very informative. The facts are laid out in an organized and orderly fashion, which is awesome because the egg freezing process can feel overwhelming in the beginning. Who am I kidding? The process is an emotional roller coaster throughout.

Back to the book; here are a few of my favorite parts:

In chapter three, Finding the Best Clinic, Stephanie provides a list of 12 questions you can ask the doctor when "interviewing" fertility centers.  I would say about half of the answers can be found on  a clinic's website so you can have those answers before you even go to the appointment. The remaining will depend on your age and health factors, which you can discuss with the doctor directly. Of the 12 questions, I think these two are most important to remember when choosing a clinic:

1. Has your clinic achieved live births from egg freezing from women my age?  If so, how many? 
2. Based on my age and health, how many rounds of egg freezing do I need to go through?

How Long Should I Wait?

Here we are well into 2014, and I'm just making my first post of the year.

During my daily peruse of CNN.com, I came across a very interesting article titled -- The 'Big Lie' in Putting Off Pregnancy.  Of course, I was intrigued so I dove in.  After reading the second paragraph, I wanted to give Tanaya Selvaratnam, author of The Big Lie:  Motherhood, Feminism and the Reality of the Biological Clock, the world's biggest high five!

*graph from Management of the Infertile Woman

Like me, she believes in the importance of promoting fertility awareness EARLY.  If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: Women need to understand the full scope of their fertility BEFORE struggles with infertility begin.  "If we know better, we do better." That's what Oprah says, right?  Gaining fertility awareness early, allows women to make the best choices for themselves and their future families.

You should definitely check out the article, but here are a few thought-provoking quotes:

Sarah Elizabeth Richards' Motherhood, Rescheduled

Since I began my egg freezing journey, I've been mildly obsessed with hearing stories of other women who've frozen their eggs.  I'm specifically interested in hearing the reason(s) these women chose egg freezing, how they felt sharing their decision with friends and family AND of course, how they coped with tons of hormones coursing through their veins.   

Reading Sarah Elizabeth Richards' book, Motherhood Rescheduled:  The New Frontier of Egg Freezing and the Women Who Tried It, was like hitting the Adventures in Egg Freezing jackpot!  I devoured the stories of the four clock tickers - Sarah, Monica, Kelly and Hannah in three days.  I mourned, celebrated and was moved by each personal tale.  And yes, I might have cried a few times too.   

It also reinforced a few things for me: 

Egg Freezing: It's an Option

Recently I read an article in US News & World Report, Egg Freezing:  A New Frontier by Rachel Pomerance.  Here are some interesting snippets:

• "`Egg freezing is a way to be your own egg donor,' Grifo says."
• "`The younger the patient, the better the outcome - although most 20-year olds likely aren't worried yet about safeguarding their fertility.  If you're thinking about it, I think you should see somebody for a consultation,' he says, explaining that women who ruminate about it for five years wish they had acted five years ago."
• "A recent study by the Free University of Brussels in Europe found that among 86 women who had frozen their eggs, 96 percent said they would do it again, but 71 percent said they wish they'd done it sooner."
• "By 34, `if you know you're not going to have children within a few years, find the money and freeze...as you get older, you're gonna have to pay money for fertility at some point, so you might as well do it now when you have a good chance of lowering birth defect."

Let me know what you think.

How Age and Health Affect Fertility

 Here's a great little snippet on how age and health affect fertility.  

"The number of eggs steadily declines throughout  a woman's life whether she’s on birth control pills or pregnant, the eggs decline.  As a woman ages the number of healthy eggs decline so that at age 30 most of the eggs will be normal, but after age 38,  50% of the eggs will be abnormal. The chance of conceiving after 38 declines very much...For a woman who’s in her mid-thirties and in a committed relationship, go ahead and think about having a child sooner than later.  For those not in a committed relationship, egg freezing has become a real viability and it is not as costly as patients believe."

Check out this short interview with Reproductive Endocrinologist Robert Weiss.

Roundtable Conversation on Egg Freezing

Here's a really interesting segment from To the Contrary about egg freezing.  To watch just the egg freezing portion, skip to 9:59 below.  

A couple of my favorite quotes:

• "The part of me that believes that a woman has a right to plan above all whether and how she going to have children, keeps me from saying don’t do this.  It is another one of the choices that I would not deny a woman, but I do think one has to think about why....With everything new thing there will be people who mistake how you ought to use it, but are we going to somehow deny people that choice?   When it comes to having children, I'm for you making any choice you want to make."  ~Eleanor Holmes Norton
• "This is additional choice and for some women it will mean a miracle, I think especially for woman who have been diagnosed with cancers early in life where they had to undergo chemotherapy and I hope that this creates and option for those women.  I don’t believe that there is any such thing as having it all.  This too comes with trade-offs.  It mean you will be an older parent.  It may mean that your children will have less time with their grandparents, which are such special relationships....it’s another option, but yet again it comes with trade-offs....Culturally this may tell us about our priorities.  Ever since women have been entering the workforce we’ve had more and more opportunities more and more choices and those are wonderful things.  I’m in a generation of people that’s really struggling with the family formation question."  ~Hadley Heath

Taiwan's Future Moms Defy Time by Freezing Eggs

An article discussing how future moms defy time by freezing their eggs.   Here are few quotes I found interesting:

"Women who wish to preserve their eggs are recommended to use the service as young as possible or at least before the age of 38 so that the eggs frozen are at the best and most fertile." 

• "A fertility clinic in Hsinchu in northern Taiwan said the number of clients coming in for egg freezing has increased 150% to 150 in the first six months of this year."
• "The cost of the service is around NT$110,000 (US $3,367)."
• "Most of its clients are financially stable and in their late thirties.  Some clients, however, have been as young as 23."

To read the full article, click here.

San Diego's First Babies Born Using Egg Freezing

I read an exciting article about San Diego's first patients giving birth to babies using the new egg preservation technique called vitrification or "flash freezing".  Here are my favorite excerpts from the piece:    

• New mom Shannon Taylor, who's daughter was born in April, "She's such a gift.  My husband and I are ecstatic.  Yesterday we were running out of options, and today we're a real family.  We are grateful beyond belief."
• The center's medical director Dr. Gabriel Garzo, "Our recent successes with ongoing pregnancies conceived through egg freezing marks another milestone in fertility preservation.  It's and option for today's women who may be busy pursuing a career or who don't yet have a partner.  They can freeze their unfertilized eggs until they are ready for motherhood.  The center's advanced technique gives these women choices they've never had before."

To read the full article, click here.

Shots! Shots! Shots! Shots! Shots! Shots!

It’s my first day of shots!  One this the morning and three shots tonight.  The Lupron injections are tiny; total piece of cake.  Let’s just say there’s a little more action with the other two shots so they’re a different story.

Thoughts on Fertility

During my research, I’ve noticed something - Most women who make the decision to freeze their eggs, decide after the age of 35 or when their fertility has already diminished significantly. In other words, fertility is not a subject women really talk about until they realize they are losing it. When I look back, I realize I've never really thought about my fertility as a whole. I've thought about babies and family, but for some reason I never considered having those things could/would be in possible jeopardy. I always felt like I had time. How do we get women to talk about fertility before its decline?    

First Visit to the Fertility Clinic

Today was my first visit to the USC Fertility Clinic…fertility clinic. I never imagined I'd be saying those words. I rolled up to a sweet parking space in front of the building (Thank you parking angels!) and headed to the 14th floor for my 8:40am appointment.  

I'm Freezing My Eggs!

I want have a family one day. To be honest, I never imagined that I wouldn't have a family by now; I'm 35. Don't misunderstand me, I'm grateful for the path my life has taken. I'm just not where I thought I'd be, which isn't good or bad, it just IS.