The choice to begin a family is a life-changing but exciting time in your life. Before your little one is even born, you start planning every part of his or her life from the perfect name to which college they might attend.
As you get older and approach the age of 35, you need to take some steps to ensure a healthy pregnancy. While you may be in great physical shape, there may be some things you didn’t consider. No matter how old you are, there are always risks and precautions to discuss with your doctor. Here are things you should be aware of and how you can have a healthy pregnancy after age 35.
More women are waiting to have their first child for a variety of reasons. The number of women focusing on their careers and education before starting a family has grown significantly since the 1950s. The women’s rights movement showed that it was possible to have a full-time job and still have the family you desired.
The number of women getting degrees keeps rising over the years. If they decide to go for graduate-level degrees, it could be close to a decade after graduating before getting a job, and even further from a family.
Women are born with all the eggs they will ever have, unlike a man, who keeps producing sperm. With about one or two million eggs ready to go, you may think having a baby is a piece of cake.
When you go through your menstrual cycle, your body is officially physically mature enough to have a child. However, women in their 20s seem to be at the prime age. As you age, so do your eggs. You are at higher risk for gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, birth defects, and miscarriages. Those over 40 may face such risks like a stroke or even a heart attack. You should quit smoking and drinking, which can affect the fetus’s birth weight.
Lower birth rate and early labor can give your baby their own health problems, including fatality. If your child does live, it would need many weeks in the NICU to ensure a healthy weight before being discharged to you.
Taking illegal drugs during any stage of pregnancy can also cause these health problems, including other serious issues such as a baby being born addicted to whatever you were taking while pregnant. Your baby can run the risk of seizures and may need procedures done, such as an X-ray, to ensure the baby’s medical safety. Trained medical staff may use a Pigg-o-stat, which is a machine that aids in holding your child down during tests for a more accurate reading.
Your eggs are aging as well and not as viable as they once were. Between the ages of 35 and 45, you have a 25 percent chance of miscarriage. Women after 35 have a higher chance of giving birth to a child with Down syndrome or other genetic conditions.
If you are able to have a healthy pregnancy, you are at a higher chance of having multiples with or without IVF treatment. This is thanks to higher levels of FSH or follicle-stimulating hormone. Twins (or other multiples) can also occur because of more eggs released during your menstrual cycle.
IVF treatments may be an option if you find you can’t have a child as you get older. During treatment, there is always a risk for medical errors which can lead to legal and medical problems. Have a legal professional such as a medical malpractice attorney to explain your rights during this stressful time.
If an unqualified doctor implanted your egg in another expectant mother or did harmful and unnecessary tests on you, your lawyer will form the best case to get you justice.
Shift Frequency © 2019 – Educational material