Time stands still for no one.

"We don't have a test that will tell us in the future when things will get difficult," said Buffalo IVF fertility Dr. Chantal Bartels.

That’s a big deal when it comes to having kids, so what if there was a way to hit pause?

"In the past five years, there's been much more awareness and we probably doubled to tripled the amount of patients we've seen for egg freezing for the purpose of just personal family planning," Bartels explained.

It’s a procedure that, even two decades ago, was only available to those with certain family histories, cancer diagnoses or other medical issues.

Now, more people from a younger demographic are looking into egg freezing, and Bartels sees them using it as a backup.

"Unfortunately, many times our peak career development is occurring simultaneous to our peak fertility," she explained.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average age of a first-time mom is around 27. That’s on the later end of someone’s peak fertility.

"Once we reach 30, the graph starts to have a downward slope. After 35, there's another turning point where the slope hastens and gets a little steeper," said Bartels. "After age 40, that slope really takes a downward turn."

When it comes to egg freezing, there are higher risks among younger patients of ovarian hyperstimulation. Bartels says they don’t see a lot of those cases.

"We have many measures that we use to really prevent that from happening," she explained.

Speaking generally though, egg freezing isn’t easy. From start to end, it can take two to three months, including eight to 14 days of injections.

"It takes a lot of time commitment and it is just stressful," said Bartels.

Pricing varies, but it is in the thousands of dollars. Meanwhile, insurance coverage could be non-existent.

"I’d say it's still lagging," said Bartels. "There's big differences in what people have covered."

Nothing in life is a guarantee.

"There's a chance that you freeze your eggs one day and then the next week, everything falls into place."

But, buying time, in Bartles’ experience, is worth it.

"There's a sense of relief," she said. "Once it's there, it's done ... in my personal bias of seeing where women do get older and struggle with their fertility, I tell women, 'you know, now's the time.'”

According to a 2023 study, if eggs are frozen before the age of 35, there’s an up to 75% success rate of a live birth. There’s limited data on how long frozen eggs survive, though.

Bartels says research only hits the four-year mark, but from experience, she’s seen success 10 to 15 years after freezing, suggesting there is no "expiration date."