Pregnancy After 40

I am the mother of three beautiful children and soon to be mom of another. I am also 42 years old. I had never planned on being an “older” mom, but that is just the way that things have worked out (between getting married in my early 30’s as well as experiencing fertility issues). When I had my first I was over 35 and considered, medically, “advanced maternal age.” I didn’t think much of it at the time, but once I started trying for my third, when I was 40, all the risks of being pregnant as an “older” mom started to hit me.

Risks of conceiving after 40

• Infertility – A woman’s fertility decreases drastically after age 35 due to any of the following: decreased egg count, decreased egg quality and higher chances of health conditions that can impact fertility. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 30% of women between the ages of 40 and 44 experience infertility. The chances of conceiving each month also decreases as you get older. Each month, the average 30-year-old woman has about a 20% chance of getting pregnant. A 40-year-old only has a 5% chance of getting pregnant each month.
• Chromosomal Abnormalities – The chances of having a baby with a chromosomal abnormality, such as Down’s Syndrome (trisomy 21) increase with age. At the age of 33, the chance of your baby being diagnosed with Down syndrome is approximately 1/400. At the age of 40, this chance increases to 1/70. By age 45, this chance is about 1/19.
• Pregnancy complications – Women older than 40 have an increased risk of experiencing pregnancy-related complications such as high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, preeclampsia as well as increased chances of miscarriage.

We did experience infertility and it took us over 18 months to conceive our third child, using a combination of fertility meds and IUI (intrauterine insemination). After we became pregnant, my worries next turned to whether or not the genetic testing would come out ok. We did the 3 month NIPT (non invasive prenatal testing) as well as genetic counseling. The NIPT came back ok and our genetic counsellor said that our risks for genetic issues were low. However, the NIPT is only a screening test so we then had to decide if we wanted to do further diagnostic testing such as CVS (chorionic villus sampling) or Amniocentesis which would give us a definitive answer regarding any chromosomal abnormalities. We weighed the risks and benefits and decided against doing the further testing. In the end all turned out ok (though we would have loved and cherished our little girl whatever the outcome) and the pregnancy proceeded without issue.

Our third child is now almost 18 months old and I am currently 5 months pregnant with our 4th. Our surprise baby. There were no fertility meds involved and no planning. We have gone through all of the testing and everything looks great so far and the pregnancy has been without complications thus far. Being pregnant at 42 hasn’t been much different than being pregnant at 40, the exhaustion, the aches and the morning sickness have been the same as with my previous pregnancies.

Being pregnant in your 40s does come with its own set of worries, but would I have changed any of it? Not for a minute. Would I have loved to be in my early 30s and have all the energy to run around and keep up with my kids? Heck yes! But I still have more then enough energy to engage with them, not to mention there are additional benefits of being an “older mom”.

Benefits of conceiving after 40

• Financial stability – By the time you are 40 you are more likely to be finished obtaining your academic degrees and have put time into developing your professional career, it only makes sense that you’re more likely to earn a higher salary than a mom who had a child before establishing her career.
• Longer life – A 2009 University of Utah study found women who conceived naturally and gave birth at age 45 or older were 14% to 17% less likely to die during any year after age 50 than women who did not deliver a child after age 40; it concluded older mothers are more likely to live longer.
• Wiser and more experienced – There’s some evidence that older mothers make wiser parenting decisions. They’re also more likely to breastfeed and, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, to make healthier nutritional choices for children, such as choosing whole fruits rather than sweets or sugary drinks.

Just because you may not have chosen to have a baby earlier on in life doesn’t mean it’s too late. While there are certainly some challenges to overcome in your 40s when it comes to getting pregnant and having a baby, you are certainly not alone. The number of women who are having babies at this age is becoming more common. With proper prenatal care, the chances of having a healthy baby are still great. Take that to heart and enjoy your pregnancy as much as you can.