Pregnancy at 40 yrs+

[Murphy101]

I know the odds with IVF and various other modern methods, but I'm curious to know how likely or how many women have had luck giving birth to a living child without those additional methods.

Edited December 24, 2019 by Murphy101

[Janeway]

You might wish to age your last living child was conceived as a lot of people get pregnant over 45 yrs old but miscarry.

[Murphy101]

Just now, Margaret in CO said:

I miscarried that baby at 46. Last one that made it was at 43. 

 

Toot.  As soon as I posted the poll and then went to answer it myself, I had the same conundrum.  I listed the age of my last baby born. There's five years and two mc between her and baby 10 and another mc after baby 11.  I do not expect to have more children due to this trajectory.  I've had many people presume I've gotten healthier the last year to up my odds of having another.  They tend to shrug in mild disbelief at my pointing out that at 46, the odds are unlikely.

[marbel]

I had my first baby at 41 and the 2nd (and last) at 42. They were both conceived naturally but we had pursued IVF etc before I got pregnant. That doctor told me that at my age and having not had any pregnancies, I had a 5% chance of conceiving naturally and carrying to term. 

Edited December 24, 2019 by marbel

[maize]

My mom was two weeks short of 45 when my youngest sister was born. She got pregnant once more at age fifty but miscarried.

My MiL was also 45 when dh's youngest brother was born.

[RootAnn]

No luck here (with a living baby) post-40 but my mom will cheerily tell everyone she had her younger two of five at 40 & 42 (almost 43), so none of her girls should have any problems with pregnancies. (After watching how she was to my SIL after she had an early m/c, I never told her different.)

[Selkie]

I know two women who had babies at 43, and a couple more who had them at 42. No IVF involved, as far as I know.

[kiwik]

I had mine at 38 and 40 but I started menopause at about 44 so I don't think I would have managed one at 42.  Conceived natuarally and within a few months both times.

[Murphy101]

I have a friend who had a baby at 48 and another had a baby at 44.  But everyone was shocked about it bc of their ages. Same for me when I had baby 11 at 43.and I gotta be honest,  I felt a LOT older than every women I saw that was pregnant when I was with that last one. 

Edited December 24, 2019 by Murphy101

[Momto6inIN]

I turned 45 two weeks before I had my DD this past spring. I had a miscarriage at 41, but this one was fine. I was quite the talk of the town for a while when we told people 🤣 I did have some blood pressure issues this time, which I had never had before. And I felt every.single.bit. of my age throughout the pregnancy. When I'm in the baby room at church with all the young mom's I often feel verrrrrrrry out of place LOL!

DH's cousin had a baby at 47. The pregnancy was normal, but the little girl had/has some health issues - floppy muscle tone that required some intense therapy as a baby, cochlear implants as a toddler, and now that she's about 12 she's also losing her sight 😞

[Selkie]

It would be interesting to ask the age of the father, too. I've read that the older the father, the higher the risk of miscarriage or birth defects.

[MercyA]

🙂nm

Edited December 24, 2019 by MercyA

[mumto2]

One of my mom’s friends had her last baby at 50.  He must be in his 60’s now. 

[ktgrok]

I put 40 but I was a few weeks shy of my 41st birthday. 

I did take some supplements knwown to help with ovarian conditions and to prevent miscarraige/genetic issues - namely DHEA and CoQ10 for 4 months before that, but have no idea if that mattered. I got pregnant the first month we tried. 

I also had an ultrasound at age 42 and the tech was shocked - she said I didn't have 42 year old ovaries, and that I had better be careful or I'd be one of those 50 year old women who are pregnant. 

[DesertBlossom]

My grandmother was 49 when she had her last baby. She had 3 babies in her 40s. She also had her first baby when she was 17 and the whole thing still blows my mind. I just had my last a few weeks shy of my 39th birthday and it was such a rough, exhausting pregnancy. I can't even imagine being pregnant in 10 years. Huge shoutout to all you moms having babies in your 40s! You are all strong women! 

[happypamama]

I lost a micropreemie that was due right before my 40th, so there are five years between my living youngest. My rainbow baby was conceived right before I turned 41. He is the sweetest, most adored baby. It was physically easier to have babies in my twenties, but truly, I am so glad I have this little guy. He is so doted upon, kissed a gazillion times a day by everyone. I had my FSH levels checked before trying for him because I wanted to know what our odds were, and they were more like what would be expected of someone in their early thirties. 

[Melissa in Australia]

I know someone who had a baby at I think age 47. She didn't know she was pregnant until 8 months , just thought she was gaining weight with menopause - her baby has down-syndrome

[Momto6inIN]

9 hours ago, Selkie said:

It would be interesting to ask the age of the father, too. I've read that the older the father, the higher the risk of miscarriage or birth defects.

I've read that too. DH was 45, just like me.

[Elizabeth86]

I didn't vote because I'm not over 40, but I am thinking of this for the future.  My great grandmother gave birth to my grandma and her twin sister at 48.  My mil had dh at 41.  My friend had her last two at 44 and 46.  

[wintermom]

Miscarried at 42. This pregnancy was natural and I also had a copper IUD in at the time. It was probably the cause of the miscarriage. Horrible experience. Not recommended. (My attempt at very bad humour).  Feeling extra crappy this morning as our dog just suddenly died.

[2ndGenHomeschooler]

A friend had her last baby (of 11) at 48. Her oldest is my age and her youngest is the same age as my DD2. That means her youngest four would all have been born when she was in her 40s maybe the next oldest too. All healthy kids, and healthy pregnancies as far as I know. 

[jpinal205]

Our twins were born when I was 2 months shy of 41. Our youngest of 6 was born just before I turned 43. Easiest pregnancy of all.

[Katy]

I didn't vote because I had my youngest at 39.9, it was by far my easiest pregnancy, we don't know if we're done.  DH just brought up another "if we have another baby" decluttering question two days ago.  We have enough toddlers at the moment but I might stop preventing again at 42.  I've heard PCOS & living past 100 are both highly correlated with late fertility.  Many people on both sides of my family seemed to have an easier time conceiving after 40 than before 30.

[KungFuPanda]

I have a friend who had her first baby at 45.  She's had the same husband since she was 21.  They thought they couldn't get pregnant and gave up trying years ago. Now they're chasing a three-year-old.  It was all quite an experience.  Her friends are all launching their kids into college and she's potty training.  It's a great joy, but it is a bit unusual.  She scared a lot of her friends into doubling up on birth control.  You can get careless in your late 40s.  

[Murphy101]

16 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

I have a friend who had her first baby at 45.  She's had the same husband since she was 21.  They thought they couldn't get pregnant and gave up trying years ago. Now they're chasing a three-year-old.  It was all quite an experience.  Her friends are all launching their kids into college and she's potty training.  It's a great joy, but it is a bit unusual.  She scared a lot of her friends into doubling up on birth control.  You can get careless in your late 40s.  

lol. I don’t think it’s anymore “careless” to take a less than 5% risk without birth control in our 40s than to take a similar risk with birth control in our 20s.  Especially as the cancer risk goes up with age. But that is an entirely different discussion.

Edited December 24, 2019 by Murphy101

[Momto6inIN]

21 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

I have a friend who had her first baby at 45.  She's had the same husband since she was 21.  They thought they couldn't get pregnant and gave up trying years ago. Now they're chasing a three-year-old.  It was all quite an experience.  Her friends are all launching their kids into college and she's potty training.  It's a great joy, but it is a bit unusual.  She scared a lot of her friends into doubling up on birth control.  You can get careless in your late 40s.  

 

4 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

lol. I don’t think it’s anymore “careless” to take a less than 5% risk without birth control in our 40s than to take a similar risk with birth control in our 20s.  Especially as the cancer risk goes up with age. But that is an entirely different discussion.

Lol

I took "careless" to mean "I'm too old for that anyway so who cares if we don't use bc because by golly if my premenopausal body actually wants to get busy with DH we're going to strike while the iron is hot." At any rate, that's how I ended up being eligible to answer this poll 😉

In my 20's I was a lot more hyper vigilant about bc because I still harbored some illusions that I could control my life. Bwahahahahaha!

[Murphy101]

Dumping to get more votes after the holidays. 

[Frances]

On 12/24/2019 at 11:00 AM, KungFuPanda said:

I have a friend who had her first baby at 45.  She's had the same husband since she was 21.  They thought they couldn't get pregnant and gave up trying years ago. Now they're chasing a three-year-old.  It was all quite an experience.  Her friends are all launching their kids into college and she's potty training.  It's a great joy, but it is a bit unusual.  She scared a lot of her friends into doubling up on birth control.  You can get careless in your late 40s.  

I have a friend with a similar story, although they adopted in their 30s. She ended up with two, at 42 and 44, because they thought after the fluke of the first that there was no way it would happen again after trying unsuccessfully for so many years.

Another friend with secondary infertility had her third at 43, seventeen years after her first.

Edited January 4, 2020 by Frances

[Hannah]

1 hour ago, Frances said:

Another friend with secondary infertility had her third at 43, seventeen years after her first.

I have a friend who is 19 years younger than her sister.  Her mom was 42 when she had her.  

[Noreen Claire]

My kids are 24, 10, 7, 5, & 3. DS3 was born 8 days before DS24 turned 21. That last pregnancy (at 42)  was the hardest, most physically draining thing I have ever been through... I'm still recovering!