5 Things You Need To Know About Social Egg Freezing
Only recently, I heard about Social Egg Freezing as a means of preserving fertility. My adorable twin godsons came about only after multiple rounds of IVF as it’s really difficult to get pregnant once one is past a certain age. Another friend, in her late 30s, has been trying for a baby for the past 2 years, but good news has yet to come. So social egg freezing does sound like a great option for women to have – it’s kind of like ‘insurance’ where fertility is concerned. Freeze your eggs while you are in your early thirties and “still young”, and when you want to have babies later in life, you encounter fewer hoops to jump through, as the doctors will have your younger and healthier eggs to work with.
I have found that social egg freezing is great for those who:
1) Want the option of having children later in life
2) Haven’t found Mr Right yet
3) Want to focus on their careers first
4) Are not emotionally or financially ready for a child yet
Social egg freezing buys you time. Most women tend to delay marriage and having kids, and by the time they are ready for a child, it just doesn’t happen.
However, freezing of one’s eggs in Singapore is allowed only under certain medical conditions, such as if the woman is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer, which could affect her ability to conceive in future.
While there is some debate as to whether social egg freezing could potentially lead to an increase in birth rates, I feel it is a modern woman’s right to decide what she wants to do with her body and her eggs in particular! Whether women actually opt for the procedure or not, they should at least be given the choice to do so. At the moment, you will have to head overseas if you want to do social egg freezing.
5 Things You Need To Know About Social Egg Freezing:
1) It preserves fertility - A woman’s chances of having her own biological child starts declining from age 33 onwards and is less than 1% after age 43. http://www.singstat.gov.sg/statistics/visualising_data/chart/Age_Specific_Fertility_Rates.html
2) Not allowed in Singapore yet but you can opt for the procedure to be done in countries like the United States, Australia, Britain, Malaysia, Thailand, etc.
3) Fees involved - the procedure would cost about S$8,000 in Malaysia and Thailand.
4) The eggs can be stored indefinitely
5) Some risks involved: Hyper-stimulation could occur in some cases. In hyper-stimulation, the tummy feels bloated from enlargement of the ovaries and collection of fluid in the abdomen. This can be minimized considerably by using GnRH antagonist suppression and GnRH agonist trigger.
You should definitely consider social egg freezing if you have turned 30, and you are certain that you would like to have a kid in future but not just yet due to whatever reason (missing Mr Right, putting your career first, etc). Women face this dilemma where work and kids are concerned as the ‘prime years’ for advancing in your career are those same years that are best for bearing children. Social egg freezing can potentially help you to have the best of both worlds.
Grace
*The writer blogs at http://workingwithgrace.wordpress.com/