Mother Nature never claimed to be just. Although most men remain fertile well into their senior years, women’s fertility starts to decline in their 20s. As they age, the decline becomes a cliff drop: at birth, you have between 1-2 million eggs. By puberty, you only have a couple hundred thousand. At age 50, you’re lucky to have a thousand eggs.
At OC Fertility, caring OB/GYNs and fertility experts Dr. Sharon Moayeri and Dr. Nidhee Sachdev want to help you preserve your fertility until you’re ready to use it. That’s why they offer egg freezing at their Newport Beach, California, facility. Thinking about egg freezing because you want to delay childbirth or you’re going through cancer treatment or another health crisis? Here’s what you need to know.
Not only does the number of eggs decline as you age, the quality does, too. By the time you’re in your 40s, you only have about 3% of your original eggs, and not all of them are viable.
When you freeze your eggs during the peak of your fertility, you avail yourself of both greater numbers and greater quality. That means, when you’re ready to conceive, you’re more likely to conceive a child in the first or early rounds of in vitro fertilization (IVF).
If you’re already undergoing IVF, your doctor gives you medications to release numerous eggs during a single menstrual cycle, instead of the normal one egg per cycle. You only need about 10-15 eggs for a cycle of IVF.
Freeze any extra eggs and you’ll save yourself a step when you’re ready for your next round of IVF. Whether you need a second try to conceive a baby, or you were successful with one baby and want another, having your eggs ready makes the whole process easier.
If you have a serious illness or if you’re undergoing chemotherapy for cancer, freezing your eggs helps preserve your fertility. Once your treatment is over or you’ve recovered from your illness, your eggs are ready and waiting for you.
If both you and your partner have uteruses, and you’re interested in reciprocal IVF, freezing your eggs makes it easier to plan for more than one child. Dr. Sharon Moayeri and Dr. Nidhee Sachdev facilitate reciprocal IVF for lesbian and trans-man couples. Even though the baby will only inherit DNA from the partner who donated the egg, both partners will play a role in the process.
During your consultation, our doctors help you decide how many eggs you should freeze for your future. Although recommendations used to vary between 10-20 eggs for each planned pregnancy, that may not be enough if you’re older. You want to have as many healthy eggs as possible to increase your chances of a successful pregnancy.
For instance, if you freeze 10 eggs at age 35, you have a 69% chance of a healthy baby. However, by age 39, that goes down to just 39%. You can enter your own age and egg retrieval numbers in this online egg calculator to get a better idea of how many eggs you should aim for.
Ready to freeze your eggs, or just want to learn more about your fertility options? Call us at 949-706-2229 or book an appointment on our website today.
