Jennifer Matthews: By her mid thirties, Adrienne Domasin knew she wanted a baby, even though she was single.
Adrienne Domasin: I didn't really feel like I had to meet someone, so I said, I can do this thing, so I went ahead with it.
Jennifer Matthews: Ignoring her biological clock could cost a woman her chance at motherhood. Egg quality peaks at age 27, declines rapidly through her thirties and by 42, a woman has little chance at getting pregnant with her own eggs.
Now, science lets women freeze their eggs.
Dr. Frederick: When the egg is frozen, it's in an ageless state and it stays frozen until you thaw it and fertilize it in the test tube and create an embryo.
Jennifer Matthews: Freezing eggs before they're fertilized is a challenge. Eggs, which are mostly water, form damaging ice crystals during the freezing process.
Dr. Frederick: And then the egg doesn't survive when you thaw it.
Jennifer Matthews: But a recent breakthrough in the cryoprotectant used in egg-freezing has made it possible. Still, a single thawed egg results in pregnancy less than 4-percent of the time, compared to 43-percent with fresh eggs. So far, only about 600 babies have been born from frozen eggs. Adrienne had 11 eggs frozen. She came back four months later to have six fertilized. Now, she has Noah. What makes Adrienne's story even more unique -- Noah is the nation's first baby born from a frozen egg and frozen sperm.
Transplant surgeon Andreas Tzakis wants to be the first in the world to transplant a human uterus, giving women who have had hysterectomies a chance to give birth. His research is currently in pigs.
Dr. Andreas Tzakis: We have five animals that are quite healthy with transplanted uteri and they are waiting to be pregnant.
Jennifer Matthews: For many women research like this can come soon enough. This is Jennifer Matthews reporting.
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