The desire for motherhood has no age, and more and more women are choosing a pregnancy at 40. Thanks to advances in medical science, late pregnancies are no longer a problem.
Pregnancy At 40 Years
Many women choose to have a late pregnancy. 40-year-old mothers now have a relatively stable life and greater maturity, allowing them to dedicate more time and patience to their unborn child. The gynecologist is the point of reference for a conscious path: he will help the woman have a safe monthly pregnancy. He will support her with examinations, genetic tests and check-ups to minimize the risk associated with mom’s age.
Pregnancy At 40 And Female Fertility
When deciding to have a child after a certain age, the first thing to remember is that your fertility certainly differs from that of a 20-year-old girl or a 30-year-old woman. Over time, your reproductive capacity decreases until it stops definitively with menopause (around the age of 50, but it is not a precise figure because it varies from person to person). Fertility is, therefore, inversely proportional to age: it is better when you are young and worsens as the year progresses. For the latter, however, the situation is more drastic.
Every girl comes into the world with a supply of oocytes that will serve her for life. It is, therefore, evident that this “stock” is reduced as time passes and is not renewed. At some point, there are no more eggs available. From a biological point of view, the age at which a woman is at the peak of her fertility corresponds to the range between twenty and thirty years. Then, gradually the chances of conception decrease until they disappear with the arrival of menopause. This is a generic discourse: some women get pregnant at 40 without any difficulty naturally. And there are not many.
Pregnancy At 40: The Risks
Experts agree: the right age to have a child remains between 25 and 35: once this threshold is exceeded, the risks inevitably increase, also due to the approach of menopause. Women at 40 have more incredible difficulty getting pregnant due to the partial depletion of the follicles and reduced hormonal secretions; moreover, they have worse uterine vascularization than younger women and can more easily meet some risks. First is the risk of miscarriage, chromosomal abnormalities, and possible hypertensive complications.
This, however, must not discourage at all; having done the necessary examinations on the fetus and mother, keeping weight gain at bay, and taking proper consideration of nutrition during pregnancy (with increasing age, glucose intolerance and hypertension also increase, which can leave the road to the onset of diabetes and high blood pressure ), all women who want it can become mothers even after the age of 40.
Prenatal Diagnostic Tests
As mentioned, prenatal diagnostic tests have significantly reduced the risk of death for both the mother and the child. They have also allowed parents to know the eventuality of chromosomal anomalies in advance. Exams such as the Tritest (which searches for hormonal and protein abnormalities through a blood sample), nuchal translucency (ultrasound of the neck, which is usually thicker in Down children), CVS ( chorionic villus sampling to look for any hereditary or metabolic disorders) and amniocentesis (taking of amniotic fluid in search of chromosomal abnormalities) now give future parents the security of being able to have a healthy child at any age.
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