Plan for your last (not just your first) kid when you freeze your eggs

If you’re not ready for kids yet or not in a position to have them but are considering freezing your eggs, there’s a lot to think about. Often women and couples think about when they might start to have kids. However, what a lot of people don’t think about is when they would like to have their *last* child if they’re hoping to have several. It’s not your first child you want to plan for, but your last.

Of course, sketching out neat timeline for kids tends to be a bit of wishful thinking – nobody can accurately predict how quickly they’ll be able to get pregnant at any point. However, based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we know that one in eight women between 15 and 44 struggle to become or stay pregnant, and sperm concentration has decreased by over 50% among Western men since the 1970s. As we mentioned in another post, some of the data on age-related fertility decline are quite antiquated. However, there is well established evidence that pregnancy success rates for women needing treatment for fertility issues decrease significantly with age, while rates of miscarriage and chromosomal abnormalities increase. A few studies comparing natural conception rates of women in their 30s and 40s have also shown that conception rates decrease and time to conception increases with age.

Therefore, one factor to weigh as you’re thinking through fertility preservation is when you’re hoping to have your last child. Here’s how our founder’s personal account for her decision:

“I’m now 33 and married to somebody I think will make an exceptional Dad. Knowing I’ll have him as my partner in crime (and toddler tantrums…) made my decision to have kids much easier. That said, we’d both like more time with just each other and our careers before adding a tiny third. So we did the math: If we had our first baby 2-3 years from now and allowed a bit of a gap until the second, we could get into dangerous territory. I’ll be approaching 40 by the time we’ll try for the second baby, and my husband will already be in his 40s.

Laying out the timeline like this was a lightbulb moment for us. We’d previously only focused on our timing for the first baby and assumed freezing my eggs at 33 might not be worth it if we’d start trying two years later, anyway. Taking into account the timing of baby number two really changed our perspective. We decided to figure out how we could increase our likelihood of having a second kid and ultimately froze embryo as a backup plan.”

 

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