The Fertility Preservation Program
Vol. 03 · 2026
San Francisco · Los Angeles · Washington, DC
An essay in held time

Biology has a clock.
You don't have to follow it.

The Question
Why is the most predictable biological decline of adulthood still treated as a private emergency?
The Method
Reserve testing. Vitrification. One physician who stays for the decades that follow.
The Result
Eggs and sperm held at today's biological age — used when, and if, you choose.
I. The Premise

Fertility is the only major medical event in adult life where age alone is the diagnosis. No symptom precedes it. No test gets ordered for it at a routine physical. The first conversation most people have about ovarian reserve happens when reserve is already a problem — and by then, the decision space has narrowed considerably.

This is not a moral failing of the patient. It is a structural failing of the system that surrounds them. The information arrives late because the conversation arrives late. Most primary care visits never raise it. Most fertility clinics charge for a consultation to do so. The gap between "I have a doctor" and "I have a fertility plan" is wide enough that, for many, it becomes a regret.

We are closing that gap. Reserve testing at thirty is not pressure — it is data. Vitrification at thirty-two is not a panic move — it is a pause button on a biological process that does not pause on its own. And we are still the same practice, with the same physician, on the same chart, when those frozen eggs are used at forty-two — or never used at all.

II.   The Math

The number of eggs a woman has at thirty is roughly twelve percent of what she had at birth. By forty, it is closer to three.

OVARIAN RESERVE · Across the reproductive lifespan Birth → Age 50
~1M ~300K ~100K ~25K OPTIMAL PRESERVATION WINDOW Oocyte count (log) Egg quality (proxy) Live-birth rate per cycle FREEZE @ 32 BIRTH PUBERTY 25 32 35 38 42 50
~12%
Share of the original egg pool that remains at age 30. Most people learn this number, if they ever learn it, in a fertility clinic — not a primary care visit.
35yrs
The age at which the slope of the live-birth-rate curve steepens sharply. Not a cliff, but the geometry of the decline changes here.
~52%
Estimated global decline in sperm concentration over the last fifty years. Male fertility has a clock too — and almost no one is reading it.
"

A frozen egg at thirty-two is, biologically, still thirty-two — at thirty-five, at forty, at forty-four. That is the whole proposition.
The rest is logistics, and the rest is the practice.

— On vitrification
III.   The Gap

The biology is moving. The conversation isn't.

Reproductive timelines have shifted by roughly a decade over two generations. Career structures, partner formation, housing, and graduate education all push the median age of first child later. The biological curve has not moved to accommodate. Most patients arrive at the question too late not because they were careless — but because no one in their care team raised it earlier. We raise it earlier. That is the only structural change required.

~10yrs
Increase in the median age of first birth across many high-income countries over the last two generations. Biology kept its schedule. Society moved.
1in 6
Global adults affected by infertility at some point in their lives, per the WHO. The frame of "an unlucky few" badly understates the population.
~52%
Estimated decline in mean sperm concentration globally between 1973 and 2018, in the most widely cited meta-analyses. Male fertility is not the stable variable.
<5%
Share of newly diagnosed reproductive-age cancer patients reliably offered fertility preservation counseling before starting chemotherapy or radiation, in many systems. The oncofertility gap is the most preventable harm in modern oncology.
IV.   The Method

AI runs the workflow. Doctors run the conversation.

Fertility preservation is a sequence — evaluate, decide, retrieve, freeze, store, stay — and most of its failure modes are sequence failures, not science failures. We use AI to make the sequence quiet, so the conversation gets to be loud.

Step 01 / Evaluate

The number behind the conversation.

A reserve panel — AMH, antral follicle count, FSH, estradiol — for those with ovaries; a comprehensive semen analysis including DNA fragmentation for those with sperm. Our pre-visit AI reviews your chart, age, cycle history, family history, and any prior labs to draft an interpretation before you arrive. You leave with a number, a picture, and a recommendation — not a sales pitch.

AMH · AFC · DFI  ·  same-week results
Step 02 / Decide

A conversation that stays a conversation.

Most fertility decisions are not made in one visit. They are made over months, with a partner, with finances, with shifting plans. Our AI surfaces decision points — your numbers in context, scenario modeling at different retrieval volumes, plain-English risk and cost — so the clinician's time is spent on what only a clinician can do: listen, answer, and not rush.

Scenario modeling  ·  no-pressure pacing
Step 03 / Preserve & Stay

One cycle, or two. Then we stay.

Retrieval and vitrification happen at our partnered embryology lab, supervised by a board-certified reproductive endocrinologist. Storage and the long relationship happen with us. Annual storage check-ins, an updated plan as life changes, integration with the rest of your care. The clinic that froze your eggs at thirty-two is the clinic that knows you at forty-four.

Partnered REI lab  ·  multi-decade storage
V.   The Biology of Pause

Two curves bend. Vitrification holds one of them still.

A frozen oocyte does not age in storage. It carries the genetic and cytoplasmic profile it had at the moment of cryopreservation, indefinitely. The pause is real — and the biology that makes the pause possible is unforgiving of shortcuts. Vitrification, not slow-freeze, is why this conversation exists at all.

VITRIFICATION · The cellular pause, end-to-end Day 0 → Storage
+37°C +37°C ~+20°C -196°C -196°C · ∞ Stimulation 10–12 DAYS Retrieval 20 MIN · TVUS Equilibrate CRYOPROTECTANT ~15 MIN −20,000°C/min Vitrify GLASS-STATE NO ICE CRYSTALS Cryostorage LN₂ DEWAR DECADES WARM   →   COLD   →   HELD
THE LONG RELATIONSHIP · From freeze to use, or not The decade after the decision
Cryostorage YOUR EGGS · YOUR SPERM held at age of freeze Preservation YEAR 0 Annual review YEARS 1–N Use · IVF SOMETIMES Not used ALSO LEGITIMATE THE RELATIONSHIP Eggs frozen at 32 may be used at 42, at 48, or never at all. Every outcome is a success when the patient chose it.

Reserve

AMH · AFC · FSH

The endocrine baseline of egg quantity. The number that turns the question into a plan.

Semen

CONCENTRATION · MOTILITY · DFI

Comprehensive semen analysis with DNA fragmentation. The half of fertility most clinics ignore until couples are already trying.

Retrieval

REI-PARTNERED LAB

Stimulation and oocyte retrieval at a partnered reproductive endocrinology lab, supervised by a board-certified REI physician.

Storage

LN₂ · MULTI-DECADE

Long-term cryostorage with annual integrity audits and an annual conversation with the same physician who started the chart.

VI.   The Menu

One door, four paths.

Fertility preservation is not one service — it is a small family of services with different patients, different timelines, and different costs. We are transparent about every one of them. Insurance covers most of the diagnostic work. Cash covers most of the preservation itself. Pricing below reflects current published averages for the U.S. market and is provided for orientation, not as a final quote.

TIER · 01

Evaluation

Insurance + Cash

The data behind the decision. Most evaluations are billable through insurance; some advanced panels are cash add-ons. You leave with a number, not a sales pitch.

AMHRESERVE
Anti-Müllerian hormone · single blood draw
The single best biomarker of remaining ovarian reserve. Stable across the cycle, interpretable from age 25 onward.
Often covered · cash ~$80–150
AFCRESERVE
Antral follicle count · transvaginal ultrasound
A real-time count of resting follicles. The structural complement to AMH; the two together carry the most predictive weight.
Often covered · cash ~$200–400
Hormone panel
FSH · LH · estradiol · TSH · prolactin
Cycle-day 2–4 endocrine baseline. Often the panel that surfaces conditions adjacent to fertility — thyroid, PCOS, hyperprolactinemia.
Often covered · cash ~$150–250
SpermatogramSPERM
Concentration · motility · morphology
The standard semen analysis per WHO criteria. The under-ordered test of male fertility medicine.
Often covered · cash ~$200–300
DNA fragmentationSPERM
DFI · sperm chromatin integrity
A measure of sperm DNA quality not captured by routine analysis. Often the missing variable in unexplained infertility or recurrent loss.
Cash · ~$300–500
Carrier & genetic
Expanded carrier screening · select chromosomal
For partnered planning. We focus on actionable, professionally endorsed panels — not gene-flavored bundles built to be impressive.
Often covered · cash ~$250–600
TIER · 02

Preservation

Cash · REI-partnered

The cycle itself. Performed at our partnered embryology lab under a board-certified REI. The clinical work happens there. The relationship happens here.

Egg freezing — single cycle
Stimulation · retrieval · vitrification
One stimulated cycle yielding ~8–20 oocytes for vitrification, depending on reserve and response. Most patients are advised at least one, often two.
Cash · ~$10,000–15,000 / cycle, excl. meds
Fertility medications
Gonadotropins · trigger · adjuncts
The variable cost most clinics quietly omit from the headline number. We tell you up front. Some pharmacy programs lower this meaningfully.
Cash · ~$3,000–6,000 / cycle
Embryo freezing
Fertilization · culture · vitrification
For couples ready to fertilize but not to implant. Higher post-thaw survival than oocytes alone, and amenable to genetic screening when indicated.
Cash · cycle-based, comparable to egg freezing
Sperm freezingSPERM
Banking · 1–3 samples typical
Pre-vasectomy, pre-cancer treatment, or proactive. The cheapest, simplest, and most under-utilized of the preservation options.
Cash · ~$1,000–2,000 initial
Oncofertility — expeditedURGENT
Pre-chemotherapy · pre-radiation
Compressed-timeline preservation for newly diagnosed cancer patients before gonadotoxic therapy. We coordinate directly with the treating oncologist. This is the most preventable harm in modern oncology.
Cash · assistance programs available
PGT-A (optional)
Embryo aneuploidy screening
Genetic screening of frozen embryos for aneuploidy. Indicated in specific clinical contexts. Not a default. We will tell you when it helps and when it doesn't.
Cash · ~$2,500–4,500 per cycle
TIER · 03

Storage & the long relationship

Cash · annual

The years between freeze and use — or freeze and not. The unique part of taimseed's offer. Same chart, same physician, no re-introduction.

Cryostorage
LN₂ dewar · multi-decade
Annual storage of vitrified oocytes, sperm, or embryos. Storage integrity audited quarterly; chain of custody documented end-to-end.
Cash · ~$500–1,500 / year
Annual review
15–30 min · in-person or video
One scheduled conversation each year. Your numbers, your plan, your life as it is now. The visit you don't have to schedule yourself — we do.
Often covered · included for storage clients
Future-use coordination
IVF · IUI · transfer planning
When the conversation turns into a decision, we coordinate directly with the REI lab — no re-intake, no lost chart, no re-introduction.
Often covered · cycle-based on REI side
Disposition counseling
Use · donate · discard
For those who decide not to use what's stored — or for those whose plans changed. An unused freeze is a successful freeze when it gave you the choice.
Often covered · cash visit-based
VII.   What Changed

The science of preservation matured. The conversation around it hasn't caught up.

What the Last Decade Taught

The story we inherited.

  • Egg freezing is for women who don't yet have a partner.
  • Slow-freezing is good enough; success rates are similar.
  • "You have plenty of time" — until thirty-eight, sometimes forty.
  • Male fertility doesn't really decline; the focus is on the female partner.
  • Genetic screening of embryos is always the smart, more thorough choice.
What the Evidence Now Says

The medicine we practice.

  • Egg freezing is a biology decision, not a relationship-status decision; partnered patients freeze too.
  • Vitrification — not slow-freeze — is why post-thaw oocyte survival is now in the high-eighties to mid-nineties percent at quality labs.
  • Reserve declines steeply through the mid-thirties; "plenty of time" is a phrase that costs many patients their preferred outcome.
  • Sperm concentration has declined ~50% over fifty years globally; DNA fragmentation rises with paternal age. Male fertility is half of the conversation.
  • PGT-A has specific, evidence-supported indications; it is not a default add-on. We use it when it helps and skip it when it doesn't.

Preservation doesn't sit in a silo. Neither does our care.

Fertility is the most visible reason a patient walks into the Preserve pillar, but rarely the only thing on the chart. Hormonal patterns that surface in a reserve panel often connect to weight, mood, sleep, and metabolic health upstream — and to perimenopause downstream. We see all of it on one chart, with one physician, in one practice.

Heal

PCOS, weight, and cycle integrity.

Many reserve evaluations surface PCOS, hypothyroidism, or hyperprolactinemia for the first time. Treating these well — sometimes with GLP-1 therapy, sometimes with targeted endocrine work — is fertility medicine, even when no one called it that.

Prevent

Sleep, the gut, and gamete quality.

Sleep architecture, the microbiome, and metabolic health are now linked to oocyte and sperm quality in mounting evidence. The Prevent pillar — our sleep program, microbiome work, screening imaging — is upstream of the preservation conversation, not adjacent to it.

Menopause

The same curve, one chapter later.

The biology underneath fertility preservation is the same biology underneath menopause — ovarian reserve, written forward and written backward. Our Menopause Program lives on the same chart, with the same physician, so that the transition is handled by someone who has watched the curve from the start.

Insurance for the work-up. Cash for the preservation.

Office visits, hormone panels, reserve testing (AMH, AFC), semen analysis, and follow-up are billed through insurance where covered. Preservation cycles, storage, and most fertility medications are cash-pay in most U.S. plans; we will tell you exactly what your insurance does and does not cover before any cycle is scheduled. No surprises, no upsell, no membership.

Aetna Blue Cross Blue Shield Cigna United Medicare CareFirst

Three cities, all already yours.

Now Accepting Patients

San Francisco

305 Spear St
Embarcadero
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Now Accepting Patients

Los Angeles

8500 Beverly Boulevard
Beverly Center
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Now Accepting Patients

Washington, DC

825 10th St NW
City Center
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Begin

A decision that
stays yours.

Start with a number. We'll run a reserve panel or a semen analysis, sit with the result, and build a plan — preserve now, preserve later, or simply have the data. Whichever you choose is the right answer, because it's yours.

Book a Fertility Consult
Available in Washington, DC  ·  San Francisco