Pregnancy complications in older women

Fertility and Age

Many women plan to have a baby quite late as they probably have some obligations in the first years of marriage due to modern way of life. It is not true that women can never become pregnant after the forties, but there is the fact that most of such cases can have a lot of complications and sometimes pregnant women can even lose a baby. According to the specialists, the probability that a woman will become pregnant after the forties is significantly reduced. Conception depends on the fertility of man and woman. As the age increases, fertility decreases. In fact fertility of many women is reduced in mid-thirties.

Stress has a bad effect on fertility.

Small amount of hormones in the body during pregnancy can result in poor ovulation.

Since fertility decreases with age, the probability of conception is also reduced.

There are women who have married late or have the corresponding obligations that must be completed before they establish a family. Many educated women would rather achieve certain goals in career before they become occupied with family. For them there is no other option than to have a baby after the forties.

If a woman plans to have a baby after the forties, she will need to be under constant supervision of obstetrician. She will probably take drugs that promote ovulation and vitamins and supplements to increase her fertility. Also, there are many herbal supplements for rejuvenating the body and increasing fertility.

Complications of Older Women Pregnancy

Fatigue is a normal part of pregnant woman life, especially in late pregnancy. But fatigue is not the only problem that older pregnant woman face. There are couple very serious complications during older woman pregnancy that can arise.

At the age of 40, the risk of spontaneous abortion is about 25%. Placenta previa is the condition which assumes implantation of the placenta over or near the internal cervical entrance. This leads to a sudden and painless vaginal bleeding. In cases of profuse hemorrhage or when fetal maturity is reached, child is delivered usually by Caesarean section.

Another complications of pregnancy in older women are reduced newborns' body weight and preterm delivery, which can be significantly reduced if a woman avoids smoking during pregnancy. In pregnant women older than 35 there is a greater risk of Cesarean section birth.

Down's syndrome frequency of 1 per 10,000 at 20-year-old is increased to 1 per 100 for 40-year-old pregnant woman. Although it cannot be prevented, it can be seen in the regular examinations during pregnancy. Older women in pregnancy are at higher risk of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and hypertension. These disorders should be closely monitored by doctor during pregnancy.

Many older women believe that they have no control over risk factors, but they do have it. If they eat healthy food, exercise before, during and after pregnancy, and if they follow the doctor’s advices, chances for avoiding risky situations are considerably higher.