Frozen eggs

Filed in archive Pregnancy on May 14, 2007

For women who doesn't want to be bothered by the thought of their body clock ticking and the stress of finding Mr. Right right away, then storing your eggs in the baby bank might be a good option for you.

Take Tessa Darley, 37 of Glasgow, Scotland. She had her eggs stored in the "baby bank" so that in the time that she's ready to have children, she can easily "withdraw" her frozen eggs and have it implanted into her womb.

Tessa, one of the first women in Britain to have her eggs frozen through a new process called vitrification, where "water is drawn out and anti-freeze chemicals added" does not guarantee a 100% result. A woman who undergoes this treatment might suffer side-effects from the drugs (a woman had to inject drugs which would induce her body to produce as many eggs as possible) as well as over stimulation of the ovaries which may cause "swelling and breathlessness" and at times may even be fatal.

I have nothing against treatments like this, at least women have more options now. As a mother of two, I believe that one should be ready and willing to have children, before they do decide to have them. The changes that you would have to undergo and the responsibility that comes along with it, is not an easy matter. You really have to think about it. Sometimes people take longer, say 10 to 20 years, and at least the option is there and you're not limited to the constraints of child-bearing

All I can say is, to each his own.

Treatment costs GBP 4,000 and storage costs GBP 200 per year.

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