5 High-Tech Trends in Baby-Making

There are a host of new technological options for parents who want to conceive, want peace of mind regarding their babies’ health, or just want to know more about the little one who’s on the way. Here’s a look at five of these high-tech trends and what they mean for prospective parents.

By Christina Elston

To say that Sondra Marshal sees no mystery in baby-making would be an understatement. The only mystery for the 40-year-old and her husband – who’ve been undergoing fertility treatments for about a year – is why they don’t have one yet.

“When we started this whole thing, I thought I didn’t even want to do the high-tech stuff. It’s not romantic. It’s not mystical,” says Marshal of West Los Angeles. “I’ve gotten past that.”

Married for the first time at 39, Marshal wanted to start a family right away. But when six months went by with no pregnancy, the couple decided to get help. Initial tests revealed problems with her husband’s sperm.

Several rounds of drug therapy, intrauterine insemination, and a cycle of in-vitro fertilization with their own egg and sperm failed to produce a baby. And so, after months of tests, injections, ultrasounds and gynecological exams, the Marshals are considering the use of donated sperm, eggs, or both. “You spend basically your whole teenage years and early adulthood trying not to get pregnant. You get to this age and you think it will be easy, but it’s not,” Marshal says. “My husband’s very optimistic, and that keeps me going.”

The technological options the Marshals are exploring are part of a host of new choices for parents who want to conceive, want peace of mind regarding their babies’ health, or just want to know more about the little one who’s on the way. Here’s a look at five of these high-tech trends and what they mean for prospective parents.

1. Egg Freezing

Beginning in their early 30s, women can now keep the possibility of egg freezing in mind. Officially known as oocyte (pronounced “OH-site”) cryopreservation, this technology allows women who want to delay childbearing to harvest eggs while their fertility is high and have them frozen and stored for later use.

While it’s been possible for some time to preserve sperm and fertilized embryos through freezing, doctors have only recently perfected techniques for egg freezing.