Declining Fertility

L

lorax

Cathlete
Did anyone see 60 Minutes last night or GMA this morning? The report on women's fertility has me concerned although I was aware of the facts, just not how dire they are. Apparantly, after age 35 your chances of conceiving are greatly reduced. I'm 37 (38 in Sept.)and my husband and I are just beginning to plan on trying to conceive. We would have begun last year but we had to change insurance companies and they won't cover maternity until the policy is effective for 1 yr (which will be Dec.). Because of the damn insurance I'm still taking the pill but now I'm freaking out that I won't be able to conceive because I'm just about out of my "old eggs". The report went on to say that so many women believe they can have children into their 40s but that it just isn't so biologically and that many 40 somethings use donor eggs or remain childless finding themselves (to quote the report) "holding briefcases instead of babies". To top off my anxiety I swear I'm having perimenopause symptoms. It would just be so sadly ironic that my whole adult life I've been preventing pregnancy and now when I'm ready I'm too old.

To help my mental state I was wondering how many of you have gotten pregnant in your late 30s naturally, with no fertility treatments? I already know I won't go that route. If it doesn't happen naturally I'll just have to deal with it.

Thanks for listening - I'd appreciate any input!

Lorrie
 
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Apr-08-02 AT 11:08AM (Est)[/font][p]I saw that 60 minutes report last night too and I am also kind of freaking out! I too am 37 (will be 38 in Dec) and we have decided to try to conceive as well. I have been off the pill since November and still nothing. I am afraid I have been on the pill so long that my ovaries are coughing out dust bunnies! Nothing else we can do but keep on trying. I do know of a few people who had babies later in life and it was no problem so don't worry too much about it--stressing out about it can only make trying to get pregnant more difficult. I have read about people who were trying for so long and were stressing about the whole thing but once they decided to stop trying so hard, they got pregnant. The body is an amazing machine and if it senses too much stress, be it mental or physical (dieting, weight loss,excessive exercise, etc)it will shut down the fertility mechanisms because it is thinking "It is hard enough to keep this body running during this stressful time without having to support another life". Try to relax about the whole thing--there are exceptions to every rule---Let's be the exceptions!
 
I did, at 40 and just had another scare now at 42. Trust me, it can happen.

I think that whether you've had endometriosis is supposed to have some influence on it. I did not.
 
Oh, and my best friend had her first child 2 days before her 45th birthday, with no fertility treatments. Poor woman, I feel for her now . . . . LOL
 
I don't know a whole lot about it, but my mother had her last child at 37 - and I know a few women that had healthy children in their late thirties...
 
I was hoping that declining fertility was something we could sign up for! I have gotten pregnant twice, once at 38 and once at 42. I try very hard not to, but being healthy has its disadvantages. I am now 44.
 
My Mom was 45 when I was born :-wow and I was preggers at 35 so it can happen and does all the time trust me.

Becka
 
I have ten children. I am 46 years old and I chart my fertility every month. I am still ovulating every month. Yes, you can get pregnant past 36. I had #6 at 36, #7 at 38, #8 at 41, #9 at 42and #10 at 45! They are all healthy. But I never took artificial birth control. That can sometimes mess your system up.
 
It happens all the time. I had my second at 36 and my third at 39. It's not really all that unusual.
[font color=green]BETSY[/font]
 
cmoroney, WOW is all I can say. You must be a very special person - I know children are a great blessing, but 2 is all I can handle! You are awesome!

My mother had me when she was 36, my sister had her 1st and only child when she was 36 and a good friend had one at 41, so I would say that it's not that uncommon.
 
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