Don't Count Your Chickens... Post by: Kymba Cahill 22 February, 2010 - 3:23 PM

IVF Australia have announced that next month, women will be able to undergo a simple blood test which can determine how many 'eggs' we have left in reserve. Whilst this is a fascinating medical break-through, I am not sure how I feel about the idea of having a test. Being a single woman with no children and a fast approaching 30th birthday, this test sure has me thinking.

If I take the test and discover I have only a few eggs left, will I do something brash and try to procreate with the next man I meet on the train? Will it sit in the forefront of my mind every time I go on a date or every month that I am forced to 'waste' another egg? (sorry folks, there’s no classy way of saying it).

Perhaps knowing how much time I have left will help me plan for my future while I juggle a career and start to consider adulthood. (I’m auditioning for adulthood but I’m not convinced I’ll get the role). But this knowledge could also provide false hope- the test determines the QUANTITY of eggs, NOT the QUALITY. I could be coerced into leaving it too late.

So many questions and so many outcomes! Just like my one and only visit to a clairvoyant, I’m not sure I want to know.

How do you feel about it ladies? Would you take the test? Why/why not? Have your say!

Leave your comment

• Ingrid says

  I think I'd like to know, I'm only 25 but I could plan my life around it

  Posted Monday 22 February, 2010 3:55 PM
• Bazza says

  My wife's 35, we've got one kid and I'm pressing for another, this just might be the way to convince her to have another go.

  Posted Monday 22 February, 2010 3:56 PM
• Pia says

  I don't know that I'd do it. There's plenty of pressure anyway as you get older (from yourself and in some ways from society) annyway, without adding more. Even on just a biological front - the older you get the harder it is to concieve and carry to term - whether you've got enough eggs or not. I want kids, and like you Kymba I'm coming up to the big 30. It does kind of put the pressure on, I think knowing the number of eggs left is just compounding the issue. Nope not gonna do it. If the kids come they come....if they don't well I can always adopt or be an incredibly doting auntie.

  Posted Thursday 25 February, 2010 7:48 PM
• Monica says

  as a married 31 year old who's been trying without success to get pregnant, I'd love to know the number of eggs I leave left. Say for example, I have none, we can make plans for other options. Say for example, I have heaps, I might relax a bit and feel less pressure about why I can't conceive. I think its a great idea however it could be different for someone who is told they are close to eggless who might not be in the position to have a baby.

  Posted Sunday 7 March, 2010 7:26 AM
• Kerry says

  it shouldn't just be about 'can you'...it should also be about 'should you'! I'm a woman in my mid 40's with no kids of her own who realised a couple of years back that while I may still be ABLE, did I want to be pushing 70 when I got the little darlings out of the house!

  Posted Thursday 11 March, 2010 4:29 PM