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Fertility: should you freeze your eggs?

06 February, 2012 06:21:00 Staff Contributor

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If you find yourself nudging 35 and still searching for that elusive life partner, you may have concerns about your ability to have children one day. Freezing your eggs could be the solution...

Freezing eggs is a way to preserve them so they can later be implanted in the hopes that pregnancy will occur. Many women are deciding to do this for a lot of reasons. If you are over 35, perhaps you’ve considered this, but is it really necessary?

There are several reasons why freezing eggs might be a good idea, and others why it might not. We’ll begin with the benefits.

Freezing eggs preserves them for later use

This means that when you finally find the person you want to spend your life with, you’ll have eggs that can still be used, even if you are older than the common age of conception. This used to be viewed as around 40, but some women are still getting pregnant well after that.

Still, a later pregnancy is considered high risk, so the younger you are, the better. Freezing the eggs still can give you options when you are past the usual conceiving age.

The older you are, getting pregnant in the traditional manner is more difficult

This is where freezing your eggs can come in handy and really serve as an advantage to you. As a general rule, several eggs are frozen, so you’ll have several chances to conceive.

Freezing your eggs allows you to find your mate after 35 and still have a few years with him before having children. This enables you to build a solid marriage before bringing children into it.

Freezing your eggs also enables you to decide just when you begin trying to get pregnant

You can continue using whatever birth control means you wish until making the decision to have them implanted. Many working women view this as a great way to plan parenthood carefully.

There are also several disadvantages to freezing eggs

First, not being married by 35 isn’t so unusual these days. Since women are having children later and later in life, it is not impossible to marry after 35 and still produce several offspring the natural way.

When eggs are frozen, implanting them requires a procedure. Such a procedure isn’t always successful, and can be quite expensive. The costs can really mount quickly if it is necessary to try it several times. Though you may be spending a lot of money, you may still not wind up having children. Also, some medical aid policies don’t cover this type of procedure, or only cover the first.

The decision to freeze your eggs is an important one and should require a lot of thought. Consult with your GP, gynae or an obstetrician to find out all it involves. Make your decision carefully and keep yourself informed throughout the entire process.