On Feb. 22, I got the call from Dr. Maslow that my AMH level had also gone up significantly, to 1.49. She said this was evidence that my reproductive system had likely been suppressed from being on birth control, just as she had expected. To hear that it had tripled was a huge relief, but to my surprise, it didn't change my prospects much. Now it was estimated I might get between four and 11 eggs, rather than the initial four to 10.
It was then that Dr. Maslow explained that AMH is not the best indicator of fertility. "Some people will have low AMH levels and never know it because they never go through diagnostic testing and never have an issue conceiving," Dr. Maslow said. She went on to note that the very best quality indicator is age.
"Patients have a better chance of developing a successful pregnancy from eggs frozen when they were younger even with a lower AMH than when they are older even if they happen to have a higher AMH," Dr. Maslow said. At this point, I needed to get serious about what it would mean for me to continue and how likely it would be that I would get enough eggs to have a good shot at eventually having a baby, if I ever needed to use them.
Dr. Maslow informed me that, roughly speaking, a woman who freezes 10 eggs at the age of 33 has a 66 percent chance that one of those eggs will develop into a successful pregnancy. The rate drops to 50 percent for a woman who freezes the same number of eggs at age 35 and 40 percent for a woman who freezes 10 eggs at age 38.
With my 34th birthday right around the corner on March 2, the knowledge that I'd be teetering between the 66 percent and 50 percent age bracket — that is if I could even get 10 eggs during my procedure — weighed heavily on my mind, but Dr. Maslow reassured me that time wasn't quite so much of the essence as I might feel it to be. I decided that I would go through with egg freezing but that I would wait a bit to give my body more time to rid itself of the potential effects of close to two decades of being on birth control.