She knew she wanted to be a mom, so it gave Tina Rampino a huge shock when Tina Rampino told her that her gynecologist had no time to have a baby.

Egg freezing is not common yet, and her insurance is not covered, but Rampino, 35, then-year-old, took a leap of faith when she thought it was her backup plan. She is now a 46-year-old single mother due to the frozen eggs.

"On the day I started my egg freezing cycle, I took a screenshot of a famous quote that said, 'Today do something your future self will thank you,'" Lanpino said. "This has always been something I've been thinking about because that's really the decision that changed my life."

More and more women turn to egg freezing

For decades, frozen embryos of IVF were used for in vitro fertilization, but freezing unadministered eggs has been a more difficult scientific challenge. It was originally used in cancer patients and other fertility-threatening diseases.

For non-medical reasons, frozen eggs became a recognized practice 12 years ago, and since then, demand has soared, and hundreds of thousands of eggs are now frozen. The number of egg freezing procedures increased by more than six times 2014 6,000more than 39,000 by 2023.

Women who choose to freeze eggs told 60 minutes that they want to increase their chances of having children at age. Frozen eggs, they say, mean they don't need to rush to find a partner, nor do they need to be obsessed with the ticking of the biological clock.

Dr. Tomer Singer, head of fertility practice at Northwell Health, said young and young women are starting to freeze their eggs. When he started frozen eggs in 2012, most of the women he treated were in his 40s. Now, most of his patients are in their 20s or 30s.

Kate Sonderegger freezes eggs at the age of 22 because she is going to medical school and knows her long journey before her.

“You know, education has been four years, and training has been done for four to seven years after that,” she said. “I wouldn’t even consider building a family myself until I’ve done all this.”

A 2022 study from a large fertility center found that 70% of women who freeze at least 20 eggs before age 38 have a baby, but the success rate is significantly reduced in older women, and the fewer eggs frozen in eggs. So some women, including Carissa Simek, retrieved the eggs and freeze them more than once to store more eggs.

At the age of 34, she did two cycles of egg freezing.

From eggs to embryos to babies

Lynsy Smithson-Stanley froze her eggs at the age of 35 and paid out from her pocket. She was single at the time but was engaged to Paul Fletcher a few years later. They want children, but until they get married.

The couple also wanted to wait until Smithson-Stanley completed his Ph.D. So, Dr. Singer suggested that they thaw Smithson-Stanley's 18 frozen eggs, fertilize them with Fletcher's sperm, and then perform genetic testing to evaluate viability, which is possible once the fertilized eggs grow into embryos for 5 to 7 days. Results: The couple had four chromosome normal embryos on ice, waiting for them.

"We have two boys and two girls," Smithson-Stanley said.

Rampino is the woman her gynecologist told her that she has no time to have a baby and he uses sperm donors to fertilize. She was 35 when she was frozen and 40 when she was fertilized.

The first embryo in her frozen egg failed to be implanted, but the second embryo was successfully implanted.

Rampino gave birth to a son Christopher in 2023

"He is a happy, healthy boy," said Lanpino. "He is so playful, he loves others."

Rampino gave birth to the second boy Theo in July with the last embryo in her frozen egg.

The future of egg freezing

The singer believes that one day, when it is more affordable and covered more frequently by insurance, almost all young women will freeze eggs in daily situations.

"I'm a believer who is very confident in egg freezing and IVF, and that's going to be the way our next generation will expand. I think that timed intercourse or unprotected breeding interactions will lose favor in the next generation or so," he said.

The singer foresees that things will be very different when his kids grow up. "I'm sure my 2-year-old would ask me, 'Mom, dad, you're not protected with sex? Chromosomal abnormalities, miscarriage, twins? What are you doing? Russian roulette?" he said.

Still, critics have warned that freezing of eggs does not guarantee that women can have children.

The 60-minute woman talked to her and said more education on egg freezing and fertility was needed. They believe that gynecologists should have these conversations with women at a young age. Dr. Lucky Sekhon, a fertility expert at the New York RMA, agreed that gynecologists should introduce the topic to patients, while, in view of its sensitivity, the topic is carefully navigated.

"You don't want judgment," she said. "Not everyone has to freeze eggs. Not everyone has to have children. But everyone should take the time to think about their choices and really think about what they want."