Pregnancies After 35

The main issue of conception at 35 would be the lowered fertility rate. However, there is also an increased risk of the child experiencing genetic and birth defects.

LoneRider said:

Thanks, guys. I've also heard of physicians who specialize in pregnancies and older mothers. Is this the case? Or would she be ok to see any OBGYN for matters like this.

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I had both my kids over the age of 35- ummm- OLDER MOTHER???? REALLY? Kind of don't like that description at all- nope not one little bit-

I was not considered special or high risk- I had normal pregnancies- only thing was an increased risk (SMALL) for down syndrome-

I mean Im a nurse- 35 is not considered an old mother- used to be when women died at forty but today- umm- no.

sheadakota said:

I had both my kids over the age of 35- ummm- OLDER MOTHER???? REALLY? Kind of don't like that description at all- nope not one little bit-

I was not considered special or high risk- I had normal pregnancies- only thing was an increased risk (SMALL) for down syndrome-

I mean Im a nurse- 35 is not considered an old mother- used to be when women died at forty but today- umm- no.

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It is, actually. In the US it's "advanced maternal age" but in the UK you get the tag "elderly" :-\

Could be worse, when my mother had me (she was 35), they put 'geriatric mother' on her notes!

wendymarlowe said:

It is, actually. In the US it's "advanced maternal age" but in the UK you get the tag "elderly" :-\

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LOL that's just wrong ( shea who is now figuring out how to hack into her medical records to erase all mentions of OLD)

Hah... I can beat that. My Mum was 45 when she had me - if 35 got 'old' on their medical records, what did she get? Ancient? It's a little freaky having your nephew in the year above you at primary school. (And even freakier that we look almost identical!)

Women are at higher risk for placenta previa after age 35. I experienced this during my last pregnancy when I was 36. If you have this condition, you cannot move around much (bed-rest is often ordered). Fortunately, my condition corrected itself, but it can be dangerous and life-threatening to both the mother and baby. For more information, see:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/placenta-previa/basics/definition/con-20032219

I can't find anything to back this up atm, but I know the medical community is upping the "safe" age to 38 now/soonish.

Lindy said:

I'm 36 and just had a little one just over 4 months ago. Instead of jumping right to amnios nowadays, they have 2 separate blood screens that are able to identify potential problems. If a possible abnormality is detected in one test, you have the option of having the second blood test...if that is also abnormal, that's when amniocentesis will be discussed.

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Yes! I had our only child a week shy of my 38th birthday and my doctors did watch me more closely because of "advanced maternal age" (my file actually said this) and the increased risk for downs. They recommended a "triple screen" that included amniocentesis, which we elected not to do because of the risks an amnio has, although we did do an ultrasound with the intention of determining genetic abnormalities we could see - these included the amount of space between the big toe and others, as well as some other indicators I can no longer recall. Our son is now 10 yrs old.

If you're looking for complications for your character, some options for you might be hyper emesis or pitting edema/gestational diabetes. I had a good friend who suffered with hyper emesis through all three of her pregnancies, to the point she had to be on a Zofran drip (this is an anti-nausea medication used in chemotherapy patients.). Good luck!

LoneRider said:

I'm curious about what medical concerns an otherwise healthy, active and athletic woman who is pregnant at the age of about 35-37 would be?

I've got a female character who's a weekend warrior hiker/rock climber type character who would find out she's pregnant after a bout of nausea at her office. Would she, who's never been pregnant before, have any special medical concerns?

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Pre-natal screening lab assistant here! The risk of Down's syndrome increases rather a lot after 35 - by the stats we use in the lab, the baseline risk for a 25 year old woman is roughly 1/1300. At 35 this rises to approx. 1/350, and at 45 it increases to 1/30 (for reference, we consider 1/150 the threshold for 'at increased risk', and usually amnio or CVS would be offered.)

It's worth noting that we don't calculate risks based on maternal age alone - other factors including N.T (nuchal translucency) biochemistry (in first trimester, PAPP-A and Free Beta HCG) and other maternal factors such as weight, whether or not she smokes and previous history of chromosomal anomalies are all considered when we calculate the 'adjusted risk'

Advanced maternal age, in my hospital at least, is considered as >35 years old. Nowadays the risk of complications is greatly reduced but there are some. Older mothers are statistically more likely to suffer with gestational diabetes, and breech presentation is more likely in older mothers, as is postpartum haemorrhage. The risk of stillbirth and premature birth is also slightly higher in older mothers. This study gives some interesting stats on the above.

(Of course, just because these complications are possible doesn't mean they'll happen - my mum had my brother and I aged 21 and suffered pre-eclampsia, hypertension and delivered prematurely. She had my sister aged 36 and had a relatively easy time. So it's always possible to have a completely normal, event-free pregnancy!)