There are women among us who can tell about the long and hard journey they have gone through, in order to have a baby. Those can serve as an example for all the girls, planning babies, but postponing their pregnancy for the future. We live in a world, dominated by alarm clocks, schedules and plans. Each one of us rearranges her priorities according to the hectic workday – thus we put off important decisions for a later period, have realized women, united by the Mother on Time cause. They have established their foundation for the purpose of counseling and reminding of the utmost mission of the woman – to create and raise her own offspring.

“We have drifted away from nature and the generations of women before us were more tightly connected to it centuries ago. We are very different and we no longer live in harmony,” says Lora who gave birth after many difficulties. The results from a recent poll confirm that only women who face no financial difficulties are willing to raise a child in the absence of a partner. Low incomes are a really important factor that often makes young Bulgarians give up motherhood. Lots of the polled talk about their concerns, that the maternity leave might become the reason for losing their job.

Sociologists mark that the priorities of most women substantially change after the age of 36 and. Pregnancy becomes the major goal of women that haven’t given birth up to then. “I have never come upon a greater power than the one of a woman who has decided she wants a baby – they are ready to do anything!” says Dr. Georgi Stamenov, an expert in reproductive health at the Nadezhda Hospital in Sofia. According to him the number of patients with reproductive problems has been growing due to bad habits and mainly due to stress. Despite the medical progress the age of the mother is decisive for a healthy baby with no genetic malformations. It sounds like science fiction, but there is a way for a woman to stop time and postpone her pregnancy via a medical procedure, Dr. Stamenov says and adds:

“We have been witnessing an average age of women, using the in vitro method over the past years, but that doesn’t always give big chances. The reason is that many of those women failed to find a partner and motivation to have kids during their good years. Many women don’t know that the quality of their ova begins to deteriorate drastically after the age of 35. That is why we recommend that the ova freezing procedure takes place at a somewhat earlier age, and be used in a later period, when the woman meets a proper partner or whenever she is ready to become a mom. The advantage of this method is the reduced number of genetic malformations. Freezing ova is like stopping the clock, a scientific journey through time. The truth is that stress kills us day by day. Scientists call on modern women to think about the genetic material that they will leave for the future and for themselves at the right moment, in their happiest moment. In this way their children will be born healthy and happy. The Mother on Time project was launched 6 months ago and it is accompanied by an explanatory campaign. My job brings me surprises everyday. I see each case as a new universe to explore. The latest surprise came one week ago. A patient of ours gave birth to twins after seven unsuccessful in vitro procedures in the course of more than a decade. The success came due to the great patience and perseverance of that woman and the professional approach of the team of doctors and biologists.”

English version: Zhivko Stanchev