Inside Hallmark Star Becca Tobin’s Journey With Fertility Struggles

About one in six people worldwide experience fertility issues, according to World Health Organization. This problem affects both men and women and can have a variety of causes, from aging and genetics to certain disorders. The risk is particularly high in women over 30, who are more prone to miscarriage and have a lower egg count than their younger peers. Additionally, egg quality diminishes with age, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Sadly, Becca Tobin wasn’t aware of these facts in her younger years. “In my early 30s, I was having an ultrasound, and the doctor said, ‘Oh my gosh, look at all those eggs,’ so I had a false sense of confidence in my ability to make a baby,” she confessed on the “LadyGang” podcast. Later, she went through two miscarriages — both within the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. Following these events, Tobin reached out to fertility specialist Said Daneshmand, who suggested she freeze her embryos.

This procedure requires fertilizing a woman’s eggs with sperm in a lab and then storing the resulting embryos for later use. “Over 95% of embryos typically survive being frozen and thawed using vitrification,” embryologist Sandy Christiansen told Harper’s Bazaar. By comparison, egg freezing has a slightly lower success rate of around 90% and doesn’t require sperm. With either procedure, the eggs or embryos can be transferred to the mother’s womb or the womb of another person.