Former Miss World Diana Hayden gave birth to a baby girl from an egg frozen 8 years ago. Find out what egg freezing is

Diana froze her eggs when she was 32 years old!

Diana Hayden, 40, gave birth to a baby girl on January 10 from an egg frozen eight years ago. The baby is called Arya and weights 3.7 kg and was 55 cm long. According to reports, Diana was 32 when she had heard about the egg freezing technology and chose to freeze her eggs because she was busy with her career and also wanted to wait to fall in love, get married and then have a baby.

Hayden who is married to an American Collin Dick for two years said that egg freezing can help a career woman as she will not have to worry about the ticking biological clock and also get pressurised into getting married and having a baby when she's not ready! Hayden and her husband decided to have a test tube baby by thawing her frozen eggs. (Read: In-Vitro fertilization (IVF): A new hope for the infertile)

According to reports, Hayden also suffered from endometriosis which makes it difficult for women to produce quality eggs.

What is egg freezing?

Dr Nandita Palshetkar who also happens to be Diana's doctor explains that egg freezing simply means extracting healthy eggs from the ovary and freeze them for use in the future. It is done by removing the eggs surgically and freezing them by cooling down or vitrification. First the woman is made to undergo various tests to check if she's suffering from HIV, hepatitis b & C. Once the reports are clear, the woman is given medication to produce multiple eggs. Then eggs are removed with the help of needle that is guided by an ultrasound. The eggs that are in a fluid state are then frozen at -196 ^o C in liquid nitrogen and a liquid cryoprotectant which ensures long term storage. (Read: What is surrogacy?)

Who should freeze their eggs?

Egg freezing is proving to be boon for many women who want to have a child later in life. Nowadays women want to focus on their careers when they are young and are not ready to start a family early in life. It helps them start or expand their family even after the age of 35. Read more about egg freezing and its benefits.

Image source: India.com

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