Thursday, 27 June 2013

Getting Pregnant At 40: Facts and Fiction


It is such bliss to give birth to your own bundle of joys, but while young couples manage to conceive within a year of trying, the couples who are a bit older do face some difficulties in that. In this blog I am going to share a similar story of one of my friends who lost his wife early in life and he chose to remain a bachelor till he was well beyond forty. He finally found his love after he was forty two and one fine day I was glad to come home from work just to find an envelope waiting to be opened, it was  a wedding  invitation of the same friend that I have mentioned.

I just could not believe that he had done it! His sudden wedding announcement came as a big surprise to me and everyone around him. It was specially the case with me because we were pretty close. At first I thought it was some kind of a practical joke and I literally double checked the name on the card and gave him a call to confirm the same, to which he affirmed with his usual bout of laughter. Anyways, I couldn’t have been happier for him, so I put everything aside (given that he is a bit shy about such matters), expressed my joy about his decision and congratulated him.

I had lost touch with him for some time as I had to move to a different city in connection with my work and we caught up after some two years when I came back on a business trip and called on him. He was a bit distraught and told me about his difficulty in conceiving. Since both of them are above 40 years of age the chances of conceiving at that age are a bit low and that is what troubled him. I suggested him to seek medical help which he was reluctant to do, but after much convincing he did go for fertility treatment at Ridge IVF center and now he is a proud father of cute lithe twin baby boys.
There are a lot of couples who meet late in their lives, but that does not mean they can’t conceive. Advancement in medical sciences has made it possible for us to ‘treat’ if not cure it. Now there are a lot  of fertility treatments available that can make dreams turn into realities. But there sure are some points that need to be kept in mind before going for the treatment. Here is a brief rundown of some facts and figures that may help in getting a clearer vision of the whole thing.

Pregnancy in women above 40, some facts, figures and more: 

Generally, 75% of women under 30 years of age and 66% of women in the age bracket of 35years have a chance of achieving a live baby naturally in one year of trying. The statics drop to around 44% for the women in their 40’s or mid 40’s. The reason for that being that the women are born with a finite number of eggs, from the start of ovulation the number of eggs is keeps on declining all the time, until women go through their menopause at around 50-51.  Nonetheless, women in their 40s do still ovulate each month but the number of eggs is low. 

Risks involved in pregnancy for women above 40

Research indicates that the eggs from older women are more likely to have an abnormal makeup making pregnancy less likely, miscarriage more common in such cases. Another risk of late pregnancy is the risk of Down Syndrome, a condition where a child is born with an extra chromosome number 21, but it occurs in rarest of rare cases. The reasons for the same have not been fully established.

Fertility Treatment for Women above 40 and Results

For women, in their early 40s, IVF is remains the ideal choice of treatment. It significantly increases the chances of conceiving and the success rates are anytime more than trying naturally. However, the success rates fall dramatically after the age of 40 and by the time a woman reaches 45 the success rate is close to zero. But despite of all the facts mentioned above, women who are above the age of 40 do conceive and give birth to healthy kids. 

Women are naturally concerned about having children after 40 years and keep asking questions about the physical and emotional development of the children when conceived after 40. We at Ridge IVF know that these children that grow up to be as healthy and bright as any other child. Our professionally trained staff at Ridge IVF will provide you with the best possible treatment and care.

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