Suzanne LaJoie always wanted to be a mother but a few years ago she worried that wouldn't happen. "I was dating and things weren't working out.. laughs... I was feeling a lot of pressure."
So at 37, she decided to freeze her eggs. "I just wanted a little insurance policy so I could have a baby of my own."
About 2,000 babies have been born from frozen eggs since the 1990's, most of those births happened in recent years. "It was difficult at first to freeze eggs because there is so much water in them. As we've gotten better at freezing technology we were able to really freeze the egg and thaw it looking exactly like it came in," says Dr. Alan Copperman of Mount Sinai Medical Center.
Recent studies show success rates for women using fresh and frozen eggs are similar. Experts say that while freezing technology has improved, there is still no guarantee it will work and it can cost thousands of dollars. "If you look at it if someone has 10-12 eggs for instance and they are young under 35 they still have an only 50% chance of getting a baby," says Dr. James Goldfarb of University Hospitals Fertility Center.
A short time after Suzanne froze her eggs, she found the right guy, got married, and conceived her oldest son Preston. Getting pregnant the second time at 42 wasn't as easy, so she used her frozen eggs to have her second son Carmelo. "I don't know that I would have another child if I hadn't done this, so I'm just really glad I did it."
She advises other women who want children down the road to talk to their doctor sooner rather than later about their options.
Experts say young women with cancer should be counseled about egg freezing since undergoing cancer treatment can decrease their chances of making eggs in the future.
