“I went to a few different clinics and I did a couple of rounds at a few other extremely reputable places before I went to [my fertility center] in Colorado, which had a really killer embryologist and a top-notch lab, and I believe that made the difference. A lot of these fertility centers are huge money makers, and not all are created equally. And because some people are out to make money, they’re going to oversell how successful, say, egg-freezing technology can be. In any industry where there’s a huge financial upshot, there’s going to be some fraud or dishonesty. I’m not knocking egg freezing, there’s science, but I am just saying that it’s absolutely worth doing the research on what’s right for you, even though it’s not easy. The learning curve is so expensive. For example, when you’re looking at a fertility center, you’re going to want to look at live birth rates, which tell you how many women are going through the process and actually having the outcome of a live birth. You also want to ask how many rounds on average it takes for the women who are having live births. And when you’re in the room with the doctor and nurse, don’t be afraid to ask questions that might make you feel dumb. Even if they’re speaking in a language you don’t understand, ask what those words mean. Don’t let the complicated nature of fertility, the medical jargon, or anyone’s sense of urgency get in the way of you arming yourself with information.
