My guilty pleasure is Bravo - specifically The Housewives of NJ and Million Dollar Listing. They are both so bad that they are so good. However, I had to tune into Keeping Up With the Kardashians last night as Kim was going with her sister, Khloe, to see a LA fertility doctor. As many of you may know, Kim wants to freeze her eggs.
My favorite part of the episode is when Kris Jenner stabs Kim in the finger instead of her stomach (see photo) with a hormone shot. It reminded me of when my mom gave me my trigger shot and chased me around a hotel room with a needle at 2 am (exactly 35 hours prior to my egg retrieval).
Is Kim Kardashian the new face of egg freezing?
At 31, is Kim Kardashian the new face of egg freezing? We all know how age and female fertility are tightly correlated. Peak fertility years are in the twenties and by age 30, about 1/8 of the approximately 2 million eggs a woman is born with remain. This reduction in egg quantity, as well as quality, increases exponentially after 35 making it harder and harder to conceive with each passing year. So, at 31, Kim is at an egg freezing sweet spot. She is freezing her eggs at a time when they are at their peak.
According to a 2011 study by the ASRM, the average age a woman freezes her eggs for social reasons was 37.4. Egg freezing's average age has declined by almost 2 years over the last six years. Are women becoming more educated about the option of egg freezing? Or, are we becoming more educated about our fertility? I would say both. Egg freezing is definitely moving from an early adopter to a more mainstream procedure. Coupled with that, women are being more proactive about their own fertility. We have seen too many friends, family and even celebrities struggle with the devastation of infertility. By freezing our eggs we are being proactive - taking action for the possibility of building a family one day. As Kim says, "I am glad that I am freezing my eggs. I think now I can just be proactive....I want to make sure that when the time is right - I should be safe." Thanks Kim for putting a face on the egg freezing journey. Thanks for telling us not to wait too long. And, tell your mom to go easy on the shots.