Trend in women preserving fertility

Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) is an important hormone used to determine female fertility.  Its measurement can help predict a woman’s ovarian reserve, which is indicative of how many years a woman can expect to maintain fertility before menopause.

As women realize their fertility may be waning, they are taking steps to preserve their fertility in a trend that crosses generations.

Oocyte cryopreservation is a procedure that involves extracting eggs from the women and storing them frozen until she’s ready to conceive.

The procedure is expensive, costing anywhere from $8,000 to $18,000.  Perhaps as a result, a new trends finds that many potential grandparents are helping their kids foot the bill.

The average age of first-time moms has steadily increased to a high of 25.1 in 2002, suggesting that even more women will see oocyte cryopreservation as a viable alternative to young parenthood.