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Fertility Preservation

Do you know you want children one day, but now is not the right time? Fertility preservation in Peoria, IL allows you to start a family on your timeline. There are all sorts of different options for preserving fertility. Still, the one thing they have in common is that they let you delay having children without closing the door on the possibility altogether.

Reasons to Consider Fertility Preservation

Fertility preservation in Peoria, IL, is useful in a variety of situations. For many people, it is as simple as desiring a little extra time. Women who are not ready for children yet may want to consider preserving their eggs so that they can have children later in life without having to worry about the diminishing fertility that comes with age. There are also some medical issues, such as cancer, that can make fertility preserving techniques a wise choice. You may want to consider preserving eggs or sperm if you are going to be undergoing one of these procedures:

  • Radiotherapy
  • Chemotherapy
  • Hysterectomy (uterus removal surgery)
  • Oophorectomy (ovary removal surgery)
  • Orchiectomy (testicle removal surgery)

Egg and Embryo Freezing for Fertility Preservation

Preserving eggs and embryos are the most common treatments offered at a fertility preservation center in Peoria, IL. Both options start the same fundamental way. You go through a regular hormone injection process that encourages your body to produce mature eggs. Then, you harvest the eggs through a small surgery. It requires sedation, and a catheter is threaded up through the vagina to reach the ovaries. There are no stitches, and you will not feel anything. Once you have the eggs, you have the choice of either freezing them or fertilizing them.

Freezing eggs is a good option if you do not have a specific father in mind. If you do want a child with one particular person, you can choose to go ahead and fertilize the eggs with their sperm. The resulting embryos are then grown in lab conditions for about five days before freezing them. Embryos are sturdier than eggs, so you are less likely to lose them during the thawing process. Often, it takes about 15 frozen eggs to get a viable embryo while there is an 88% survival rate for frozen embryos. Another benefit of frozen embryos is that you can thaw the same embryo and then refreeze it if you change your mind for some reason.

How Long Can You Freeze Your Eggs or Embryos?

There is no known limit for how long you can freeze eggs or embryos. Some women have waited up to 14 years to use a frozen egg without an issue. When you are ready to have a child, you have a few different options. Using thawed eggs or embryos always involves in vitro fertilization, a procedure that transfers embryos into the uterus after a few days of growth. As long as you and your reproductive system are in good health, you may be able to carry the pregnancy yourself. There have been many cases of women who have IVF after menopause successfully. However, if you have health or personal reasons stopping you from carrying the child yourself, you can implant your embryos in a surrogate.

Learn More at Advanced Reproductive Center in Peoria Today

In addition to egg and embryo freezing, there are also some other types of treatments you can get at a fertility preservation center in Peoria, IL, that can help in different situations. For males, a standard option is collecting a sperm sample and freezing it until it’s used for fertilization. If a woman is undergoing radiotherapy, she can have surgery to move her ovaries higher up or temporarily shut them down with gonadotropin hormone treatments to protect them during her cancer treatment. There are also some experimental processes that involve freezing ovarian or testicular tissue for later use. These are not very common treatments, but they show a lot of promise.

Once you are ready to have a family, Advanced Reproductive Center can assist you with more fertility services, including:

Call Advanced Reproductive Center Peoria at [Direct] to schedule an appointment and learn more about our services.