Near the end of 20 18, Zhang Meimei frequently received calls from her mother urging her to get married. The fat on her belly, her boyfriend who broke up and her mother's phone call all made this post-85 girl feel embarrassed in her life.
This embarrassment seems to have disappeared after 32-year-old Li chose oocyte cryopreservation. From 2065438 to August 2008, Li took out 33 eggs and frozen them. In a few years, these eggs may come in handy when she finds a suitable partner and wants to breed her own offspring.
More and more women are eager for oocyte cryopreservation technology, but only those who have experienced it personally can understand that they are suffering from health risks and economic pressure while getting rid of their reproductive anxiety.
Oocyte cryopreservation
Give yourself an ovulation needle for the first time. During this half minute, Li dawdled in front of the mirror for two hours. At the age of 32, Li gave himself a special birthday present and went to oocyte cryopreservation, USA.
20 16 by chance, Li founded an overseas assisted reproductive service platform. At first, she didn't have oocyte cryopreservation's idea, but a quarter of customers in oocyte cryopreservation were single women like her, and all kinds of distress and anxiety brought by childbirth were also transmitted to Li.
The so-called frozen egg is to take out healthy female eggs through medical means and freeze them to prevent them from aging with the human body. When women want to have children, they can take out the frozen eggs and use them.
Ovulation promotion treatment is needed before taking eggs, and follicle-stimulating hormone is injected for one to two weeks. When the egg matures, it is taken out of the female body and frozen. If necessary, the eggs are thawed by professional means, fertilized with sperm in vitro, cultured into embryos, and then the embryos with normal development are selected and transplanted into women's uterus.
Overseas assisted reproductive service platforms like Li mostly cooperate with frozen egg hospitals abroad. They helped women who want to go to oocyte cryopreservation to apply for visas and complete medical examinations in China. Customers going abroad to oocyte cryopreservation will also be accompanied by special personnel.
Li oocyte cryopreservation's idea came from the influence of a female client. The girl is 25 years old. She has just been married for less than a year, and she is trying to get pregnant for half a year. After going to the hospital for examination, it was diagnosed as premature ovarian failure. After treatment, she still failed. She found out that Li planned to go abroad to be a test-tube baby.
In the whole process, the parents of the man have caused great psychological pressure to the girl. What kind of woman doesn't have children? Leave without birth, and let your son find a new one!
In addition to verbal slander, the man's family also asked the woman to bear the cost of doing IVF. In the endless disputes, girls have been quietly preparing for divorce. Finally, she gave up IVF and chose oocyte cryopreservation first.
Having children will have serious consequences for both sexes and families. In the face of children, people still can't stand the test, so leave yourself a way out. Li made up his mind to oocyte cryopreservation.
Zhang Meimei, 33, also began to prepare for oocyte cryopreservation. She consulted a lot of information and many institutions. From June to February, 5438, she also attended the oocyte cryopreservation Salon held by the China office of a fertility center in the United States. After the New Year, Zhang Meimei officially listed frozen eggs in the planning list of 20 19.
Most China women who choose oocyte cryopreservation are single women born in 1980s and 1990s, and there are also many married women in their 40s. They save their young eggs before the last bus arrives, hoping to have a child of their own at some point in the future.
According to the survey of the American Association for Assisted Reproductive Technology, the number of women cryopreserved oocytes increased from 475 in 2009 to 8,000 in 2065, 438+05. According to the prediction of 20 18, 76,000 women's eggs will be frozen. Although there is no authoritative data in China, there is no doubt that women's demand for oocyte cryopreservation is increasing rapidly.
In this group, Liu Qingnan is special. She wants a second child. On a sunny Friday afternoon, Liu Qingnan sat in the waiting area of the reproductive center of Chaoyang Hospital in Beijing. His blue schoolbag is full of boxes, Chinese and western medicines and snacks to satisfy his hunger.
Unlike those women with single frozen eggs with good reproductive status, Liu Qingnan is 40 years old. After the two-child policy was released on 20 16, her family wanted her to have another child. Liu Qingnan and her husband have been preparing for two years. In 20 17, they also resigned from the media unit where they worked for nearly 10, but their children were never pregnant. The first child was conceived by accident, not as hard as it is now. Thinking about it, Li Qingnan went to the hospital.
The results showed that Liu Qingnan's fallopian tube was blocked and there was endometritis in the uterus, so she could not get pregnant naturally. Even if she wants to be fertilized in vitro, she must adjust her body first. Thinking about the family's expectations for the second child, frozen eggs became another choice for Liu Qingnan.
Anxious
The situation is different and the experience is different, but the biggest similarity among women in oocyte cryopreservation is that they are all anxious about their fertility status. Zhang Meimei summarized this as accepting all new things while maintaining the traditional concept of fertility.
Why not choose natural childbirth? This is the most common problem faced by women in oocyte cryopreservation. Zhang Meimei's answer is: For those women who don't want to get married casually and have no natural fertility conditions, you always have to give them another possibility.
Near the end of the year, Zhang Meimei frequently received a call from her mother to urge marriage. We had a good chat in the first ten minutes. Speaking of boyfriends and having children, Zhang Meimei lied about something and hung up decisively.
Zhang Meimei understands that behind her mother's urging marriage is her concern about her aging and declining fertility. Standing in front of the mirror, Zhang Meimei pinched her face and added another layer of meat. The good figure that just entered the public relations industry no longer exists. Diet and exercise can't stop you from getting fat. A woman is over 30 years old, and more and more places make her powerless.
I have turned my life upside down, which is what I am most worried about in the past two years. Zhang Meimei has worked in the field of financial public relations in Beijing for more than ten years, and has been the highest director. She has provided three houses and bought 1 1 insurance policy. People around her envy her successful career, but she envies people around her having children.
The day before the interview, Zhang Meimei attended an MBA classmate party, and her classmates who were only one year older than her took their 8-year-old daughter. Zhang Meimei is the only one left at home. My brother's eldest daughter 14 years old, still dating in the first half of the year.
Zhang Meimei, who bought three houses, is still sharing with others in Beijing. She looks forward to having a child and feels safe in this way.
I may not long for men, but I long for a child of my own. If she can't find a suitable partner in the end, Zhang Meimei feels that she has at least these oocyte cryopreservation, and then finds a suitable sperm to give birth to her own child. Fate put me in an awkward position. How to break the situation can only be said to be frozen first.
In contrast, Li's attitude towards is more open and positive. She forwarded advertisements about oocyte cryopreservation in her circle of friends, and some people would comment on why she didn't get married and had children naturally. It's like talking about seven aunts and eight aunts every year. Lee doesn't care. When his mother died, his father was silent. Li came to Beijing very early and has been very independent. 2065438+In July 2008, Li packed his bags and flew to oocyte cryopreservation alone.
Li thinks it is too much trouble to go to the hospital every day. After consulting a doctor, he decided to have an injection at home to promote ovulation. In the morning 10, she was still under pressure when she was preparing for the injection for the first time. After watching the video several times, Li made full preparations for severe pain, gritted his teeth and plunged into his stomach. After that, everything went well, and Li began to share the whole process in oocyte cryopreservation on the Internet. She seems to have found the answer to her fertility anxiety.
But the answer is not necessarily having children, and Li is not sure what he thinks after 20 years from 10. These oocyte cryopreservation may be of no use. It's more like a choice. Fertility and career are like two stops in a woman's life. Frozen eggs are a pass, and both sites can be reached.
danger
After many inquiries, Beiqing Shenzhen reporter once found that in China, the organizations providing oocyte cryopreservation mainly went to oocyte cryopreservation, USA, as well as Ukraine, Japan and Russia. Among them, the general cost of oocyte cryopreservation in the United States is 12- 15 yuan, and the annual storage cost of frozen eggs ranges from 600 to 700 dollars, while that of Ukraine is 6,800 dollars and 250 dollars.
In addition to the different prices, the laws and policies of countries around the world are different for oocyte cryopreservation and the IVF and surrogacy that may be involved in the later period. Surrogacy is protected by law in California and other places, which is why many women are willing to pay high fees to go to oocyte cryopreservation.
Up to now, domestic laws still do not allow oocyte cryopreservation, a single woman. 200 1 promulgated the "Administrative Measures for Human Assisted Reproductive Technology", which stipulates that only women with malignant tumors can take out their eggs and freeze them before radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and infertile women cannot be fertilized in vitro in time. However, infertile couples need to provide ID cards, marriage certificates, birth certificates and other regulations if they want to cryopreserve oocytes. The Technical Specification for Human Assisted Reproduction promulgated in 2003 clearly stipulates that it is forbidden to apply human assisted reproductive technology to couples and single women who do not meet the national population and family planning laws and regulations.
According to relevant regulations, Liu Qingnan who can't conceive naturally can be in oocyte cryopreservation, China. She saved some financial expenses, but she still had to take health risks.
165438+1In June, Liu Qingnan had an ovulation induction injection for 9 days. 165438+ 10 month 16, 17 eggs were taken out of the body and frozen. At that time, I ran to the hospital every day and my stomach was smashed into a sieve. Liu Qingnan calculated that there were more needles during this period than in previous decades.
The hormone in the ovulation induction needle still affected this thin woman. Due to the excessive stimulation of hormones on ovaries, Liu Qingnan felt uncomfortable in his stomach and breathing after taking eggs. Go to the hospital for examination. Liu Qingnan has serious hydrops in his chest and abdomen and must be hospitalized. People's stagnant water index is generally 3. I was eight years old, and I was scared. I cried that night.
On the first day of hospitalization, Liu Qingnan inserted a tube in his right chest and pulled out a whole bottle of water. On the third day, he was able to draw blood. When Liu Qingnan was in unbearable pain, she went to see a doctor. The doctor recommended her to go to a private hospital, saying that there were specific drugs there. Ask the price, 20 thousand. Liu Qingnan gritted his teeth, but still endured it. It's too expensive.
Liu Changqiu, a member of the Ethics Committee of Reproductive Medicine in Shanghai Oriental Hospital, once said in the article "oocyte cryopreservation: What position and countermeasures should the law take" that injecting ovulation-promoting drugs may cause adverse reactions such as mood swings, abdominal distension and bowel sounds, and ovarian swelling. In addition, in the process of taking eggs, the needle needs to pass through the vagina and pierce the ovary, which is also an invasive medical behavior, which objectively has the risk of damaging women's health.
market
When domestic policies and regulations have not completely liberalized frozen eggs, the outbound frozen egg service agencies have already warmed up first.
At the Frozen Egg Salon on February 6, 2008, 2065438, the head of an American frozen egg organization introduced: Frozen eggs, we don't define it as medical treatment now. Now it's called a product, and it's more commercial.
Some commercial advertisements of assisted reproductive institutions even advertised "Live for yourself, lead a free and easy life" to attract women to join the army of oocyte cryopreservation, and even teenage stars participated in practical actions, which also boosted the popularity of oocyte cryopreservation.
However, as an insider, Li admits that there are still many phenomena exaggerated and advocated by many institutions, and the pregnancy rate of frozen eggs is not as magical as many institutions say. Technology is feasible, but it is not everything.
According to foreign research, some researchers thawed 709 oocytes to obtain 6 live births, and only 1% ~ 2% of more than 400 thawed oocytes were born. Oocyte cryopreservation is often just the first step. Thawing, combining with sperm to form fertilized eggs, embryo formation and various parts have certain loss rates, resulting in low pregnancy rate of thawed eggs. The data showed that the recovery rate of cryopreserved oocytes was only 70% to 80%. The head of EFC in the American Egg Freezing Center once said that the clinical statistics of the center show that after six eggs are thawed, five fertilized eggs can hatch successfully, five fertilized eggs can cultivate 23 high-quality embryos, and 23 embryos can be transplanted at a time.
Liu Changqiu, a member of the Reproductive Medicine Ethics Committee of Shanghai Oriental Hospital, also said in an interview with the media that oocyte cryopreservation technology is not as safe, simple and effective as advertised by some institutions, and there are many technical risks hidden in it.
2065438+August 2008, Li took out 33 eggs, and she returned to Beijing to continue her previous work. Li has a full schedule, but when she is busy, she doesn't have to worry about her fertility status for the time being.
Choosing oocyte cryopreservation, these women exchanged different costs for the possibility of eliminating fertility anxiety. Liu Qingnan arrived at the hospital at 8 o'clock in the morning, hung up the phone early and waited in line. 15 minutes after physical therapy, she entered the next long wait. At half past four, the children are out of school. Before that, she had to wait in line at 1 building to get the medicine. Another day has passed.
This article comes from WeChat official account: Beiqing Shenyidu (ID: bqshenyidu), reporter: Hu, Harper, editor:. All articles are aliases.