South County Doulas
In- Home Postpartum Support for Mom, Baby & Family
Mature Mothers 35 & Up
You should be thrilled to be pregnant. It is wonderful to see mature women having babies; the social science statistics suggest that you raise children more likely to do well in school and be professionals. Not that you can't do a good job when you are younger, but the likelihood of "successful" child rearing gets higher with age.
Having said that, there are still some risks that increase with age related to pregnancy. The most obvious is the increase in risk of chromosome problems like Down syndrome. At your age, the risk of a chromosome problem is 1 in 42. With a normal level two ultrasound, the risk is reduced by half, to about 1 in 80. This is still a low risk (79 in 80 chances that the baby won't have a chromosome problem) but substantially increased from when you were younger. As such, we offer extra testing to see if the baby has a chromosome problem -- an amniocentesis.This carries a risk (1 in 200) of losing the baby, though, so you have to weigh the risks and benefits carefully before deciding.
Other risks depend on your health. Some studies have indicated an increased risk for growth problems, preterm labor, preeclampsia, high blood pressure, & diabetes. It is hard to factor out the effects of age alone from the increased chances of those diseases becoming evident as we go through life, which would then make the pregnancy higher risk just on the basis of the disease you have. So, if you are in good health, the risks appear to be minimally elevated over normal. We still would watch a little more closely for problems, but essentially you would have normal care unless something showed up on your routine visits.
For now, just be excited about the pregnancy. You will find that you may be more tired than when you were 20, that you have more aches and pains, and there will be days you wonder why you did this. But overall, you will be the mature stable mother every child needs.
How likely am I to have more than one baby if I'm undergoing fertility treatment?
Fertility drugs stimulate your ovaries, increasing the odds that you'll release several eggs at the same time. On average, 20 percent of women taking gonadotropins will become pregnant with more than one baby. Women who get pregnant while taking the drug Clomid have a 5 to 12 percent chance of twins.
If you undergo in vitro fertilization (IVF), your chances of having more than one child are 20 to 40 percent, depending on how many embryos are placed in your womb. Other fertility techniques such as GIFT (gamete intrafallopian transfer) and ZIFT (zygote intrafallopian transfer) are also more likely to result in multiple pregnancies.
On its own, IUI (intrauterine insemination), in which sperm are injected into the uterus with a syringe, is the only fertility treatment that doesn't increase the chances of conceiving multiples. But most women who undergo IUI also take a fertility drug.
Fertility drugs and other treatments primarily increase your chance of having fraternal twins, where two eggs are fertilized by two different sperm. But there is now some evidence that women who undergo certain treatments also have somewhat higher rates of identical twins.
Preemie Multiples
Over sixty percent of multiples are born prematurely or weigh less than five and one-half pounds. These low birth-weight babies may need special care and frequently must be hospitalized for a period of weeks or even months. But despite the extra problems at the beginning, most "preemies" nowadays survive and grow up to be healthy.
As a parent of preemie multiples, you will naturally have many fears, concerns and questions about the babies and about their care in the hospital. Mothers have the combined challenges of postpartum physical recovery while also making the emotional adjustment to the birth of twins, or more, who may be in fragile health. Fathers may feel helpless and left out of a traumatic delivery and a high-tech intensive care nursery environment.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that if both twins are sick, there are two sets of hospital personnel for you to deal with. The confusion and stress can be overwhelming. In the face of all this, you will need a lot of emotional support from family and friends. Allow your self to accept any help and comfort that is offered, both before and after the babies come home.
Some Issues That Mature Moms Are Likely to Face
- Struggle with her identity – going from having a full-time career to being a mom
- Isolation – Her same-age peers are at different stage of life, so she sometimes feels left out, and there’s a sense of different priorities than fellow (younger) mothers
- Stress – High expectations of what being a mom is going to be like. Her baby is incredibly important to her, a major investment because she’s waited so long, so there can sometimes be stress associated with the need for everything to be perfect, and for everything to be done right.
- Fatigue – sometimes, though not always, fatigue can be greater with older moms
What can an older mom do?
- Make sure you ask for help from your partner and your friends and family – and from professionals if you can afford to get help.
- Talk with other older moms. Find a network of friends who are going through motherhood at the same stage of life, so you don’t always feel left out or disconnected.
- Exercise to stay in shape and make it easier to keep up with your kids; eat right, and get enough sleep!
