The number of women choosing to freeze their eggs in the United States has swelled from 475 in 2009 to nearly 8,000 in 2015, according to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology.
But it's not just American women who are choosing to spend thousands of dollars on a procedure with unpredictable results.
In China the treatment is illegal for unmarried women and restrictive even for those who are married.
Since the country lifted its one child policy in 2015 more and more Chinese women are travelling to the US for the treatment.
Kate Fisher reports
IN: Carolyn Lee decided
OUT: SOC
DUR: 3'44"
{SCRIPT:}
VO#1: <b'roll of Carolyn Lee and her 5 children>
Carolyn Lee decided to freeze her eggs when she was unmarried in her 30s.
Now she and her husband have two sets of twins and a 7 week old baby - all from frozen eggs.
SOT: CAROLYN LEE, mother-of-five from frozen eggs
"It almost felt like I was competing in the olympics and that I was looking forward to seeing how this turned out and having a huge goal that I accomplished. It's a combination of science and art. You can't control this but you know you've done your best."
VO#2: <Lees B'roll>
The Lee family was lucky – Citing a number of medical studies, the Washington Post reports a woman freezing 10 eggs at age 36 has between a 30 to 60 percent chance of having a baby.
VO#3: <lab or Khan set-up>
Dr naveed khan has been helping women get pregnant for 12 years. He says the technology used to freeze eggs is getting more effective.
SOT: DR NAVEED KHAN, Shady Grove Fertility
"In the beginning we had success rates of eggs survingin only 10 % now over 80/90 % of the eggs survive
We have this process of egg freezing called vitrification which is flash freezing of the eggs. Because of that our pregnancy rates with frozen eggs are just as good as fresh."
VO#4: <lab b'roll,>
That's attracted international interest - particularly from China where unmarried women are not allowed to freeze their eggs and even married women face a lot of restrictions.
SOT: DR NAVEED KHAN, Shady Grove Fertility
"Some of the more high tech procedure are not readily available in china itself. Especially once they lifted the one child rule back in 2015 we now have a huge population of women who now need services for fertility because there just isn't the capacity for treating all those patients in china itself."
VO#5: <b'roll of website in Mandarin, stills of seminars in China>
Demand is such that they've just started a program specifically for Chinese women. Dr Khan will be hosting patient seminars in major Chinese cities this month.
STAND-UP IN LAB: Kate Fisher, Rockville, Maryland <b'roll of embryologists extracting eggs over part of stand-up>
"This is where it all happens. The woman's eggs are retrieved in the room just behind that glass. They're then passed through the window to the embryologists who then get on with their work straightaway. The team here says that until about 8 years ago this was a very rare procedure but now they do between 2 and 4 of them every day."
VO#6: <lab b'roll>
The team says age is the most important factor in success rates - the younger the woman is when she freezes her eggs, the more likely she is to end up pregnant.
VO#7: <lab b'roll>
Each egg freezing process costs from around $10,000 with several hundred dollars of yearly storage fees on top. But Carolyn says, it is worth it.
SOT: CAROLYN LEE, mother-of-five from frozen eggs
"I would go for it. I would first be informed. I'd choose a clinic which has a very good lab. And choose a doctor with great bedside manner, that is very informed, has read up on things. Get the odds in your favor as much as you can. You can be a mother and not give up on that."
VO#8: <Carolyn and family
And despite the cost and uncertainty more and more women in the US and overseas are not giving up on it, hoping medical advances will mean they don't have to close the door on their chances of having a family.