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"  Last October, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine announced that egg freezing should no longer be considered an experimental procedure. That&amp;#039;s quite a feat, given that the technology wasn&amp;#039;t introduced terribly long ago and that the major advancement\u2014vitrification, in which eggs are flash frozen\u2014was developed only in the past decade. Motherhood, Rescheduled, out this month, follows three &amp;quot;clocktickers&amp;quot;\u2014women in their mid- to late thirties whose fertility is waning\u2014who not only froze their eggs but later used them to try to have babies. &amp;quot;Even if you&amp;#039;ve heard about egg freezing,&amp;quot; says the book&amp;#039;s author, Sarah Elizabeth Richards, who started her own odyssey with the process when she was 36, &amp;quot;you probably still don&amp;#039;t know anyone who has done it.&amp;quot; Actually, you may: Us Weekly recently reported that 34-year-old Jennifer Love Hewitt is considering it. ELLE: Has the lifting of the experimental label meant women are rushing to freeze their eggs? SARAH ELIZABETH RICHARDS: Well, not really. The technology may seem more mainstream, but some fertility specialists still feel uncomfortable with it. I tell the story of Dr. Michael Tucker in my book. He just couldn&amp;#039;t look a 35-year-old in the eye and say, &amp;quot;I got your fertility, don&amp;#039;t worry about it.&amp;quot; Doctors fear that if they safeguard your eggs, you won&amp;#039;t do the things you need to do to find a partner or make your life ready for a child. But I actually found that egg freezing motivates women to take charge of their lives. That was one of the big surprises. ELLE: How did egg freezing change your behavior? SER: I used to see a kid and think, I&amp;#039;m not going to have that. But now I feel like I&amp;#039;m 25 again, in that I can think about my future. Those eggs are always there for you. And even if you don&amp;#039;t get a baby from [the process], it&amp;#039;s still money well spent, because you can just relax. You no longer go on a bad date and get sad. You just think, This may not work out, but I&amp;#039;ll still have some fun. I got a lot more attention from men after I froze, probably because I felt better about myself, more powerful. I dressed differently, wore more dresses, prettier colors. I could pay attention to myself. ELLE: How many eggs should be frozen, and what&amp;#039;s the success rate? SER: This is always a tricky question, because the chance of success depends on the quality of a woman&amp;#039;s eggs and the expertise of the fertility clinic. Doctors have given me a wide range, one saying that a woman in her midthirties who froze 10 eggs had a &amp;quot;good chance&amp;quot; of bringing home a baby, and another saying 30 was a safer bet. As a rule of thumb, if a doctor thaws 10 eggs, maybe eight will survive, six will fertilize, and you&amp;#039;ll end up with two or three quality embryos to be transferred. The average patient using eggs frozen at 35 has about a 40 percent chance of becoming pregnant per cycle, which is the same as with standard IVF. ELLE: The technology is still really expensive, though, isn&amp;#039;t it? SER: Unfortunately, yes. It&amp;#039;s $8,000 to $13,000 per round. I became a bit obsessive and did eight rounds. I have 70 eggs. But I did a lot of sourcing\u2014I saw a doctor in Canada, where it&amp;#039;s much cheaper; my second round in New York was discounted, that sort of thing\u2014so my total cost was about $50,000. Ridiculous, I know. But my parents helped, and I justified it by thinking how much more expensive fertility treatments would be in my forties. I&amp;#039;m also aware there&amp;#039;s no money left for, say, a fancy wedding. Clinics are working on models to make it more affordable. For example, a clinic covers your costs, and you donate half the eggs from a cycle [to women who can&amp;#039;t produce viable eggs of their own], and the other half are frozen for you. ELLE: How should a woman choose a doctor? SER: Pick one who has experience thawing eggs. One of the problems is that a lot of doctors have started freezing eggs, but very few have experience making babies from them. To be honest, I know of about 10 doctors in this country who&amp;#039;ve gotten babies. ELLE: Should ob-gyns routinely talk about egg freezing with women? SER: I asked my doctor whether she brought it up, and she said, &amp;quot;No, I wait for patients to ask me. A lot of women don&amp;#039;t want kids, and it might seem like I&amp;#039;m harassing them.&amp;quot; The problem is, there are many thirtysomethings who aren&amp;#039;t thinking about kids when they need to be making decisions. ELLE: At what age do you think women should be doing this? SER: Ideally, in your early thirties, because your eggs are going to be that much better. Some doctors want the cutoff age to be 35, to encourage women to freeze early, but most say 38 or 39. ELLE: So by the time it occurs to women that they may need to freeze, the window of time to get it done is probably closing fast? SER: Yes, that&amp;#039;s true. But again, one thing I can&amp;#039;t emphasize enough is the psychological benefit. You are giving yourself something really valuable: the absence of anxiety. You feel in control of your life again. That&amp;#039;s the most profound thing. ELLE: So have you tried to use any of your eggs? SER: Not yet. I&amp;#039;m 42, and I&amp;#039;m dating a divorced dad who wants more kids, so maybe I&amp;#039;ll be thawing soon. In any case, it&amp;#039;s always nice to know those eggs are there. Liked this story? Get it first when you subscribe to ELLE magazine. 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<http://www.elle.com/life-love/sex-relationships/advice/a13798/freezing-eggs-to-prolong-fertility-questions/>