For Vaginas Only

Am I TOO OLD to get pregnant?

August 20, 2018 Charlsie Celestine, MD Season 1 Episode 17
For Vaginas Only
Am I TOO OLD to get pregnant?
For Vaginas Only
Get a shoutout in an upcoming episode!
Starting at $3/month
Support
Show Notes Transcript
Aside from being menopausal, is there an age thats too old to get pregnant? Why does age even matter? Find out that and more in the latest For Vaginas Only podcast episode!Support the show

Instagram: https://instagram.com/forvaginasonly

speaker 0:   0:00
Hey, guys, Welcome to another episode of four Vaginas Only in this episode we're gonna be disgusting. The common question. Am I too old to get pregnant? Hello and welcome to four vaginas. Only the podcast about everything. Female. I'm your host, Dr Celestine, bringing you important information about understanding your health and body in the way you wish your doctor would actually explain it. Welcome. Welcome to number 17 our 17th episode of four Vaginas. Only in this episode we'll one you're gonna have to bear with me sniffling and sounding action easily because for some reason, I got sick and two we're gonna be discussing when is too old to get pregnant? Is there an age that too old to get pregnant? Um, what are some of the benefits at risk of having a baby when you're a little bit older? All of that great stuff we're gonna be discussing this episode. So let's get started. Okay, So, first and foremost, let's talk about the fax. Normally, when you go to Europa July M's office, if you're over the age of 35 we have this term that's called advanced Maternal Age. So that's normally anybody that's 35 years or older. But let's back up a little bit. The ability to get pregnant starts to decrease gradually at the age of 32 even more rapidly after the age of 37 for women, and this is all because of your eggs. So like most people, no women have eggs. Males have sperm and those to join together. And that's how you, for lack of specific terminology, make a baby. When you are in the womb, you have about 6 to 7 million eggs. However, the number of eggs decreases to about 1 to 2 million once you're born, so 6 to 7 to 1 to 2. It's a drastic change, and then again, it decreases to around 800,000. At the time of puberty, where most people aren't even thinking about getting pregnant. You've already cut down your eggs by a lot, and by the age of 37 you only have approximately 25,000 eggs, and about 1000 eggs remain at the age of 51 which is about the time that most women go into menopause. So from puberty to age 37 you have anywhere from 300,000 to 25,000 eggs, and that amount of eggs decreases very sharply after age 37. So not only is it more difficult to get pregnant as you get older, but also the quality of your eggs decreases. So as you age, the rate of there being a chromosome, a ll mistake or error in your eggs goes up. Which increases the chances of chromosomal abnormalities such as down syndrome, that people are more more aware of, and also spontaneous abortion, because chromosome abnormalities lead two miscarriages often. So because of this, it's recommended that any woman that's older than 35 if they're trying to get pregnant for six months, that's all that they need in order to then proceed to some sort of work up if they're not able to get pregnant. Where normally I would tell someone, you know, try for a whole year because each month you only have about 20% chance of getting pregnant, and that's in a very young, healthy female. But after 35 because your egg qualities decrease in the amount of eggs you have decreased. We give you about six months before we start doing some investigating. And if you're over 40 you normal would have some sort of immediate evaluation and possible treatment to get pregnant, if that's what you desire. So to answer the question broadly, am I too old to get pregnant? The answer is generally, no. There's no particular age where someone is deemed too old to be pregnant, but there are risks associated with being pregnant or having a child at an older age, Um, and also even a little bit at a younger age. But that's Maura. So seo economic and things like that. Risks in terms of genetic abnormalities increases as you get older. For example, for someone that has a child at 25 years old, the risk of down syndrome is one in about 1300 births. But somebody that has a child at 37 years old, that risk of down syndrome decreases toe one in about 199 births or pregnancies so that it is a substantial difference now That's not to scare you. There are things that we do as obstetrician gynecologist that we can look at each pregnancy and see what your risk of certain abnormalities might be early on in the pregnancy. So for those that may be considering a abortion or an adoption, if there's an abnormality, that is something that you can find out early on for some types of abnormalities. But I don't want that toe really burden anybody because in general, the age that women conceive and have babies now is becoming later and later in the population. On average, first time moms in back in 2000 were 25 years old when they gave birth, where in 2014 they were a little bit over 26 years old, which might not seem like that big of a difference. But steadily. The trend has been going over the years to a later and later time of, you know, creating a first time mom having a first time pregnancy being later on in life. So some things to consider. If you are one of those women like myself, actually, who are going to be having a child later on in life in your thirties, it might take longer to get pregnant. Obviously, what you talked about because of the decrease amount of eggs that you have in the decreased quality of eggs that you have, which can lead to a higher chance of miscarriages. Also, you're more likely to develop some complications of pregnancy that just go along with having an older age, like gestational diabetes or high blood pressure issues. That's just something to be aware of, but nothing that you and your O'Brien can't manage together. But like I alluded to earlier, the age that you try to get pregnant should not just revolve around how many eggs you have left. It really needs to revolve around the scope of your life. So it's been shown. You know that when you're younger, you're not really that financially stable. You have a lower maturity, things like that which can play into, you know, wanting to have a baby and also supporting a baby and supporting a family where, as opposed to women that are a little bit older, more stable in their careers and in their relationships can possibly build a better home and a better outlook for the child. Now, I'm not saying all it's always true. I know a lot of people who have delivered kids and become mom's early in their teens, even or twenties that have great support systems, and great families, and it works out okay for them. But, you know, those are just two examples of how being a certain age can make a difference in terms of, you know, whether you even want to get pregnant and how that pregnancy goes and how that baby develops. Now everybody talks about the women and you never hear about the men. So I was actually reading around stuff on the Internet the other day, and I found this article by live Science. And it talks about how American men are having kids and older ages to which makes sense, so hold. They say that roughly in the past four decades, the average age of an American father at the time that their child is born has increased from 1972 where it was about 27 a half years old to 2015 where it's almost 31 years old. So that's kind of going along with the trend for females, and I'm not an expert on male fertility whatsoever. I usually obviously only deal with women, but in theory, Children of older dads could be at higher risk of certain genetic disorders because, as you age. There are some mutations in the sperm that can happen, and there are certain genetic conditions that are connected to specifically having an older dad. So I sometimes get in the office Woman coming to me that I've had a miscarriage on that are often older age, and they feel like it's almost their fault because I feel like the media puts that out there a lot that you know, older women lead toe down syndrome and genetic disorders and miscarriages and things like that. But in reality it can be from the mail as well. So how can you prevent this? How can you set yourself up on the best path to have a healthy pregnancy at an older age? Now I'm big on things that you can do for yourself, right? So, you know, aside from medicine, aside from in vitro fertilization and things like that, there are things that you can do to make sure that you're the healthiest. You, too, potentially support a healthy pregnancy, and the two that always come to mind are eating a healthy diet and staying very active. So make sure that you're getting all your essential nutrients and vitamins keeping active. I mean a healthy, well rounded diet, and some people should start also taking vitamins, especially if you're trying to get pregnant. You should be on a prenatal vitamins so that you can get the recommended amount of full like acid for the pregnancy. Staying active means regular physical activity. At least 30 minutes or so three days a week would be a great start for someone that's not really that active. You also should seek prenatal care if you're even thinking about pregnancy even if you haven't tried yet, it's good to see you're over, Joe. I am so that you can established care with a doctor and also go through some of the things they need to know about your health history or your partner's health history. That might be important for the upcoming pregnancy and things you might even be able to take care of before you get pregnant. Also avoiding you know those risky substances. Stay away from alcohol, tobacco, especially illegal drugs, and any medications or supplements that you and your doctor can kind of identify ahead of time. That might not be good to be on for the pregnancy. I know a lot of women out there on different medications for mood disorders and psychiatric condition, and some are safe and pregnancy, and some are not. So it's good to hash that out before you get pregnant so that your O B giant and your psychiatrist or psychologist can determine what to wean you off of. How fast, How slow, what to change you to etcetera. It's better to do that before you get pregnant, then in your first trimester. Also, obviously an older age and the things that I've talked about in terms of having chromosomal abnormalities like Down Syndrome, you can talk with Europa Giant about certain testing that might be for you. There's different things that we can do. There's blood tests and ultrasounds early on in the pregnancy that can identify some abnormalities. There's also what some called a cell free DNA tests, which is just simply a blood test looking for particular abnormalities. But not everybody falls into the category of women that can get, you know, one test or the other, so it's very important. I think the most important thing is talking with your doctor before you get pregnant about all of the things that you might need to cover in your health and in your lifestyle in order to prepare you for pregnancy and prepare you to have a baby and increase your chance of pregnancy at an older age. And that's it for Episode 17. So are you too old to get pregnant? I hope not, because I'm kind of getting up there in age, too, and I have not had a child yet. So for your own mind sake, I'm hoping that, you know, as long as we stay healthy, do our best, create our life the way that we want to before you bring a child into this world, pregnancy, an older age can hopefully turn out well for the majority of us. For those that it doesn't. I'm always truly sorry for that. And you know there are other options. Adoption and things like that for that can really help a child and help a child. It's not in a good situation. Come into your home, which might be a better situation. All of these things are possible options, and, you know, I just hope that everybody out there gets the family and the life that they want and deserve And that's it for Episode 17 Dr Celestine. And I'll see you next time. Thank you for listening to four vaginas only.