To freeze or not to freeze: That is the question
Why consider freezing your eggs
1. You need time
This is one of the biggest reasons women freeze their eggs: Time. They’re in their late 20s or 30s, and they need more time, either to meet their personal or professional goals, or to decide whether having children is right for them. Maybe both.
Freezing your eggs gives you the luxury of being able to do the things you want to do before getting pregnant: Travelling the world, getting that promotion, buying a home, or meeting the right guy. Having children is a massive decision—you shouldn’t rush it. If you freeze your eggs, you won’t need to worry as much about your fertility while you wait.
2. You’re over 30
This is another big one. Our fertility declines quickly in our 30s—particularly our mid 30s (and sometimes earlier). If you’re in your 30s, and you think you might want to have kids someday, there’s no time like now to freeze your eggs. Age is the biggest predictor of how many eggs you have left and whether those eggs will be high-quality enough to lead to a successful pregnancy. Your eggs will never be as young as they are today, and you’ll never have as many of them as you do now.
3. You have fertility or other medical issues
For some women, unfortunately, fertility declines much sooner than their 30s. They may face medical treatments or other issues that damage their ovaries, such as chemotherapy. Egg freezing is a great way to save their fertility for the future.
Other women may have fertility issues they aren’t aware of. Unfortunately, infertility is often invisible. For example, a normal period doesn’t mean your fertility is intact.
The best way to check your fertility is to see a specialist. He or she will start with an ultrasound to check your uterus and do an antral follicle count. You’ll also get some bloodwork to check several hormones, including AMH, or Anti-Mullerian Hormone, which is a marker of your ovarian reserve, or how many eggs you have left. If you’d like to check your anti-mullerian hormone without visiting a doctor, you can buy an amh test in UAE.
If your ovarian reserve is lower than you expected, don’t panic—it’s more common than you might think, and egg freezing will help you preserve some of the eggs you have left to increase your chances of having a child someday.
You want to take the pressure off
ou can consider egg freezing an investment in your mental health: Freezing your eggs means you don’t need to be anxious about your biological clock, or the pressure you might be feeling from society, family, or even a partner. Egg freezing gives you the freedom to do what you want, when you want. How’s that for a win?
Reasons You might decide against egg freezing
We’ll always be honest with you: There are downsides to egg freezing:
It’s no guarantee of being able to have a child in the future. We wish it were.
The process can be challenging for some people. If you’re afraid of giving yourself injections, or if the hormones in them make you feel moody or bloated, the thought of egg freezing may give you pause.
If you want to use your frozen eggs in the future, you need to do
You’re busy at work, and it’s hard to make time for a handful of appointments and a procedure within a two-week period.
You may have a partner who doesn’t understand why you want to freeze your eggs, or who is uncomfortable talking about children.
We hear you. These things are barriers. But they don’t need to be reasons to not freeze your eggs. They’re just challenges to overcome:
While egg freezing is not a guarantee, it will significantly increase your chances of having a successful pregnancy. Freezing more eggs (that is, doing more than one egg collection cycle) and freezing them when you’re younger will increase your chances even more.
You’ll get used to the needles. They’re very small–some people say they can barely feel them! If the idea still makes you queasy, try having someone do it for you. The side effects aren’t bad either–and there are ways to manage them.
IVF can be hard, it’s true. But keep in mind that it’s usually a last resort for couples with fertility issues. It’s much more likely to be successful when you’re using young, healthy eggs.
The time commitment really isn’t as much as it may seem. The monitoring appointments are quick, and you’ll only need the morning off of work on the day of the procedure.
Finally, egg freezing isn’t necessarily about your partner. It’s about you. We encourage you to make the right decision for you and your future.
Making your decision
Of course, that isn’t the end of the conversation. There are legitimate reasons to not freeze your eggs. Even at Ovasave, we know it isn’t for everyone. Here are some of the reasons:
You’re 100 percent certain that you will never want children
Some women aren’t sure they want children, and they freeze their eggs just in case. Some women don’t want children and are certain they never will. If that’s you, we applaud you for knowing what you want! . Egg freezing probably isn’t for you.
You’re very young (in your early 20s)
If you’re in your early 20s and you want to freeze your eggs, and you can, fantastic! The younger your eggs are when you use them, the better. Twenty-something eggs are more likely to lead to a successful pregnancy than thirty-something eggs. But the reality is that in your early 20s, you really do have the luxury of time. You may not have as much time as you wish you had, but there’s no need to rush. You can safely reconsider egg freezing in a few years.
You don’t have the means
This is a hard reason to decide against freezing your eggs. It’s expensive—we know. We’re working hard to make egg freezing accessible for more people through Buy Now, Pay Later options, but the reality is that egg freezing requires a significant investment that is a barrier for lots of women. We wish it weren’t true.
If it’s a barrier for you, don’t give up hope. As more women pursue egg freezing, it will become cheaper. You could also try thinking of it as a goal to work toward. Some people save to buy a car. Why not save to freeze your eggs? We said it above, but it’s worth repeating: You are so worth it.
If you’re grappling with the decision of whether to freeze your eggs, we hope this has helped you work through some of the pros and cons. If you have other thoughts to share with women who are thinking about freezing their eggs, please get in touch. We’d love to hear them—maybe we can even feature them here.
