Page 18 - Final Inspirational Women Issue

CALLING ALL EGGS!

By Carol Heath

OU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED physicians is that women may What's that you say, you'd like
Yto, a Tupperware party, a view this procedure as a guaran- a personal trainer for your eggs. I
Pleasure party, a Birthday party? tee of getting pregnant; it’s NOT! have a solution, well several actu-
No sorry, none of the aforemen- Well over one-third of infertil- ally. Forward-thinking companies
tioned, but you are invited to an ity cases are unexplained and a like Apple and Facebook are now
Egg Freezing party. Yes, that is third of all miscarriages have no offering egg freezing as part of
what I said "egg freezing." These explanation. It seems ludicrous the benefits program to entice
parties are very popular in the that we are even talking about those qualified applicants. You
more affluent areas like Manhat- social egg freezing considering could always apply at one of these
tan, Orange County, and parts of the fact that so little is known companies and take your chances
San Francisco. You'll find a group about the whys and wherefores of of being hired.
of women usually in their 30's or conception and carrying a child to My other solution is a bit more
full term. challenging, unfortunately, yet
There are two dynamics that we could easily fix the problem
affect women’s fertility; both with no money or false promises
transformed as a woman gets of getting pregnant. How about
older. These dynamics are quan- this for a new and novel idea. How
tity and quality of a woman’s egg about society changes the archaic
supply. Men make new sperm way of viewing working parents.
throughout their life, while wom- You wouldn’t have to worry about
en are born with all of their eggs. your fertility or that price tag of
Ergo, when a woman is in her 20’s $11,000. If you found your suitable
the majority of her eggs will be mate and wanted to start a family
normal and consist of the 23 chro- when mother nature intended,
mosomes needed to pair with a then voila, problem solved.
man’s sperm to make a fetus. I am acutely aware that some-
By the time a woman reaches day, most likely in the not too
her 30's, the dynamics shift, and distant future, we will be able to
gradually she will have fewer eggs. order a baby like we order a car;
Chances are these eggs will have don’t forget the heated seats. A
a higher proportion of abnormal- woman’s body is made to have
ities with 22 or 24 chromosomes. children for a limited amount of
40's, most of them professional By the time a woman is in her 40's, time. That time coincides with
women, gathering for the same most fertility doctors think she physical stamina. A 20-year-old is
not so common cause. will have to get donor eggs to get meant to chase after a little one,
Formally referred to as "oocyte pregnant. Egg freezing, which was sometimes with limited sleep,
cryopreservation," egg freezing once reserved for cancer patients not a 40-year-old; male or female.
has risen over the last decade. only, is becoming a solution to the Believe or not there is something
The 11-fold increase in women problem. to be said about the natural order
who choose to "bank" their eggs Like so many things in life, of things.
according to the American Society money is a huge factor and cre- I know, I know, there I go again
of Reproductive Medicine has ates a paradox for many women. talking about the old days. I have
boomed since 2009. The cost for your average egg news for you the old days weren't
This practice is still a young freezing procedure is $11,000. The as archaic as you may think.
industry and has seen very few best eggs to freeze are those of Things were simpler, and guess
numbers of successes or failures. a 20-year-old, do you know a lot what we didn't freeze eggs; we
This procedure was considered ex- of 20-year-old women who could scrambled them, we cooked them
perimental until 2012; the number afford to freeze their eggs? This over easy and sometimes sunny
of births born from frozen eggs is practice is becoming big business side up. They were usually served
small. More than 99% of American and even Wall Street is getting with bacon or sausage, toast, and
clinics now offer this procedure. into the act and beginning to take jam, and they cost maybe two
The concern among many notice. bucks at any coffee shop.

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