It’s 2020, and research shows that women are waiting longer to get pregnant. The pressures of a career, education, and building finances are gaining more importance over starting a family. Widespread access to birth control is making it easier for women to have children later in life, allowing them to do more with their 30s and 40s.
However, if you want to have a child at 40, it’s a challenge. There’s a marked difference egg quality in your 20s and early 30s. Egg quality is critical for ensuring the best chances of conception.
Women achieve “peak fertility” in their late teens and early twenties. Unfortunately, that’s a time when most women are starting to enter the workforce and build the foundation of their career and financial responsibility.
Therefore, it’s not surprising to see more women putting off pregnancy until their 30s or 40s. However, if you want the best chance of falling pregnant later in life, it’s time to start looking into oocyte cryopreservation.
What is Oocyte Cryopreservation?
Oocyte cryopreservation is a medical term for freezing your eggs and storing them for further use later in life when you want to fall pregnant.
Your cryo-preserved eggs will thaw and remain viable. When you want to fall pregnant, the lab combines your eggs with sperm from your partner or a donor, implanting them “in-vitro” in your uterus. IVF procedures offer women the chance to control when they want to experience the blessing of pregnancy.
Speak to your doctor. They can help you understand how the oocyte cryopreservation process works and the potential risks associated with it.
What are the Benefits of Oocyte Cryopreservation?
Reduce Your Fertility Anxiety
Women that go through the trouble of oocyte cryopreservation report that they feel a blanketing sensation of relief from anxiety.
Many women worry about their “biological clock” running out of time. However, when you have your eggs on ice, you know that you can extend this timeframe and have a good chance of falling pregnant.
Take Time Finding the Right Partner
Falling pregnant is a top priority for most women – but you kind of need to find the right partner (or donor) first.
When you have your eggs in cryogenic storage, you have longer to find the right partner. Reports show that most relationships have a high chance of divorce, and many of them end due to couples rushing into the relationship.
With oocyte cryopreservation, you have the option of taking the time to find the right person to build a relationship and start your family.
Protect Your Eggs from Disease
There are several diseases and pelvic disorders that can end up causing damage to your ovaries, and your chances of bearing a child later in life.
Oocyte cryopreservation was a technology designed to assist women with cancer. OC helped these individuals preserve their fertility because chemotherapy is well known to damage a woman’s reproductive system.
Other conditions like endometriosis create significant amounts of scar tissue in the uterus, impeding fertility. These diseases and disorders may decrease your egg quality due to substantial quantities of inflammation.
Start a Family When the Time Is Right for You
With oocyte cryopreservation technology available, women can delay starting a family until they feel that it is right for them. Getting pregnant and having a child is possibly the biggest decision you’ll make in your life, and it needs to be a decision you want, not one forced on you through accidental pregnancy.
IVF isn’t for everyone, but it could be the solution to delaying your pregnancy till later in life. Speak to a fertility center or medical professional about oocyte cryopreservation and IVF therapy, and whether it’s the right choice for you.