Pregnant after 35 - what are the risks?

An increasing number of women opt to become mothers after the age of 35. The medical term for this is "advanced maternal age" a term that might sound inappropriate and arbitrary, especially if you don't feel that you are old at all! Pregnancies after the "ripe old age" of 35 are often talked about in terms of the risks. Just what are they? Is becoming pregnant half-way through your thirties really that risky? And how about if you are already (ehm... for lack of a better word!) in your forties? The first bit of information you will encounter when you are trying to conceive in your thirties or forties is that it might actually take longer to conceive a baby at that age.

While younger women can expect to get pregnant in the first six months when they are appropriately tracking their fertility and are not experiencing medical difficulties those older than 35 can take up to two years to get pregnant. Your statistical risk of having a baby with chromosomal abnormalities does go up with age the older you are, the more likely this is to happen to you. To put that in context, you have a one in 759 chance that your baby will have a chromosomal condition at age 30, a figure that rises to one in 302 at age 35, and one in 82 in your forties.

Older mothers (no wait, let's put that in inverted commas: "older mothers". You are not really old, are you?) are also more likely to encounter pregnancy complications like high blood pressure in pregnancy, a placental abruption, gestational diabetes, or preeclampsia. That is why your pregnancy will likely be monitored more closely so that you will be able to receive adequate medical care if it does happen to you. Having said that, a healthy lifestyle may still be the best road to a healthy pregnancy.