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:

Chill in Grazia Magazine!

I'm excited to share that Chill was part of the article Egg Freezing?  Some Consider it a Sexual Revolution in the September 12th issue of Grazia, an Italian fashion magazine!

The original article (pic below) was in Italian, but with a little help from a friend, it's been translated to English.  Enjoy and let me know what you think! 

As someone who calls it the "second sexual revolution", disruptive as the first, triggered by birth control pills, others see it as "insurance for fertility", a "strategy to stop aging ".  We are talking about oocyte cryopreservation, a technique developed from medicine to postpone the possibility of becoming mothers.  Let's step back. Until now, in a woman's life, there were studies, the frantic search the "right job", career.  The engaged couple arrived, disappeared. Motherhood was a distant goal.  And the years passed. When it was decided to have a family, the children did not come. Why, yet not everyone knows that, with advancing

Is it Time to Freeze Your Eggs?

I came across a a great blogpost by Jeannette Francis about becoming and adult (or postponing it for as long as humanly possible), motherhood and egg freezing.  It includes a great 5 minute video clip of fellow egg-freezer Sophie Ashton discussing her decision to freeze her eggs.

Here are a few interesting excerpts from the article:

Jagged Little Pill

A few days ago, I read a blog post from Red Pill Theory that made me want to vomit.  It was titled Is Egg Freezing the Next Birth Control?  It wasn't the title that turned my stomach, but the words spewed by the author.  

The blogger shared his feelings about egg freezing and women, specifically Sarah Elizabeth Richards, author of Motherhood Rescheduled:  The New Frontier of Egg Freezing and the Women Who Tried It.  Here's what he said that made me wanna puke:  "There's something powerfully strange about a modern career women:  their inability to admit failure.  Everything they do is part of their path to self-empowerment.  Sarah Richards had to use her life savings on a fairly dicey new technology because she couldn't get a man.  That's my definition of failure, especially when you consider 90% of white women manage to get married."

Eff Cancer

I met Alice Crisci at the Fertility Planit Show in Los Angeles this past January. She was a speaker on the egg-freezing panel. The moment she finished sharing her story, I knew there was no way I could leave that place without meeting her.

She was vulnerable, full of life, enthusiastically talking with her hands, and had one of the most infectious laughs I’ve ever heard. I was inspired by her journey and in complete awe of her strength.

At 31, Alice was diagnosed with breast cancer. Let me repeat that – At 31, Alice was diagnosed with breast cancer. Talk about a game changer. When I think of cancer I don’t exactly envision someone in their early thirties having it.

After learning chemotherapy treatments could cause infertility, Alice decided to freeze eggs and embryos. She wanted to give herself the best possible chance to become a mother after she survived cancer. If she survived cancer.

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.