Having A Baby In Your 30's Or 40's: What You Should Know
While in the past many women had their first child sometime in their early to mid-twenties, today the trend is towards waiting until later in life to have children. With changes in age come changes in health factors and planning when it comes to pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care. Get to know some of the things you should be aware of when having a baby in your thirties or forties so that you will be better able to care for yourself and your future child through pregnancy and childbirth. Then, you will be better prepared for your appointments with your obstetrics physician and what is to come as you go through the process of having children in your thirties and forties.
Conceiving Later In Life
There is some truth to the idea that it is easier to get pregnant when you are younger rather than later in life. For most women, the chance that they conceive a child in their twenties is much higher than in their thirties or forties.
However, statistically speaking, the chances of getting pregnant in your early thirties (that is 30 to 34) are still quite high. And even further, there is not an immediate large change in your chances of getting pregnant after you reach 35 or older. The chances of getting pregnant decrease slightly every year, but this does not mean you cannot get pregnant just because you turned 35 or even 40.
Additional Tests You May Wish To Have
If you do decide to wait until after the age of 35 to have your child, you may wish to have additional tests run during your pregnancy to ensure the health of your baby. For example, when you reach the age of 35, the chances that you may be carrying a child with Down's Syndrome increase exponentially.
The chance of this genetic condition goes from one in 900 at age 30 to one in 350 at age 35. There are tests that can be performed while you are pregnant to find out if your future child will have Down's Syndrome. This will allow you to prepare to care for a child with different needs and make any decisions that you may need to make early on in your pregnancy.
Blood tests and other tests during pregnancy can also test for conditions of the brain and spinal cord like spina bifida. The test results for these health issues are not 100 percent accurate though, and instead gauge your risk of having a child with one of these conditions.
Now that you know a bit more about having a baby later in life, you can be better prepared for your pregnancy and future child. Just remember that having a child after 30 may be different than having a child in your 20s, but one is not necessarily better or worse than the other.
Contact a center like Triad OB-GYN PC for more help.
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