PREGNANCY OVER 40

ARE YOU WONDERING WHAT ALL THESE WOMEN ARE TALKING ABOUT??? THEY'RE CONFESSING THEIR MAGIC AGE - HOW OLD THEY WERE WHEN THEY HAD THEIR FIRST BABY. MANY WOMEN BECOME MOMS IN THEIR TWENTIES AND THIRTIES. BUT THERE'S AN INCREASING TREND TO SAVE THOSE DIAPER DAYS FOR A LITTLE LATER.

ANN SHUMAN:

"The thought of having kids never crossed my mind, it would have interfered with everything that I was doing. When I met my husband I realized this was the person I would want to raise a family with."

ANN SHUMAN HAD HER FIRST CHILD, NATALIE, WHEN SHE WAS FORTY, AND HER SECOND CHILD, DANIEL, WHEN SHE WAS FORTY THREE. A DEMANDING NURSING CAREER AND LOVE OF TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE PUSHED MOTHERHOOD TO THE BACK BURNER. AND SHE'S NOT

ALONE - THE NUMBER OF WOMEN HAVING BABIES AFTER FORTY HAS DOUBLED IN THE LAST TEN

YEARS. BUT HAVING KIDS LATER CAN IMPACT YOU AND YOUR BABY'S HEALTH. KNOWING THIS,

MANY WOMEN LOOK TO THEIR DOCTOR FOR ANSWERS.

DR. BILL GILBERT:

"I went to the literature and found that there really was not much in the literature describing women having babies over forty."

DR. BILL GILBERT IS CHIEF OF MATERNAL FETAL MEDICINE AT THE UC DAVIS SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AND MEDICAL CENTER.

HE WANTED NITTY-GRITTY DETAILS ABOUT PREGNANCY OVER FORTY, SO HE CONDUCTED A STUDY THAT LOOKED AT OVER TWENTY-FOUR THOUSAND (24,000) WOMEN WHO WERE DELIVERING THEIR FIRST CHILD AFTER THE AGE OF FORTY.

DR. BILL GILBERT:

"There was a dramatic increase in the cesarean section rate as well as an increase in the operative vaginal delivery rate which is forceps or vacuum.

DR. GILBERT ALSO FOUND THAT FIRST-TIME OLDER MOTHERS HAD AN EIGHTY-PERCENT INCREASED RISK OF HAVING HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE DURING PREGNANCY, AND THAT THEY WERE AT HIGHER RISK FOR GESTATIONAL DIABETES AND OTHER COMPLICATIONS LINKED TO LABOR AND PREGNANCY.

DR. BILL GILBERT:

"If you compare as a group of women in their twenties to a group of women in their forties pregnant or non-pregnant, the older group is going to have a higher incidence of hypertension, diabetes and so forth.

AND THOSE ARE THE RISKS IF YOU CAN GET PREGNANT IN THE FIRST PLACE.

THAT BIOLOGICAL CLOCK IS ALIVE AND TICKING AND MANY WOMEN OVER FORTY HAVE TO FIGHT MOTHER NATURE.

FEMALES ARE BORN WITH ABOUT TWO MILLION EGGS IN THEIR OVARIES, BUT AS THEY AGE THAT NUMBER CHANGES.

DR. BILL GILBERT:

"By the age of forty you have about five or ten thousand eggs, so the sheer number of eggs that can ovulate and therefore cause a pregnancy are dramatically decreased."

BUT ANN AND HER HUSBAND BRAD BEAT THOSE ODDS. ANN FOUND HERSELF PREGNANT PAST THE CRUCIAL AGE OF THIRTY-FIVE AND SHE KNEW THERE COULD BE PROBLEMS.

ANN SHUMAN:

"The genetic risks were the things I was kind of worried about as far as having a pregnancy and carrying it through, and the side effects I didn't worry about any of that. I didn't worry about labor and delivery."

ANN DID END UP HAVING A COMPLICATED DELIVERY WITH HER FIRST CHILD. BUT HER SECOND DELIVERY WENT SMOOTHLY. SHE FEELS OTHER WOMEN SHOULDN'T LET FEAR HOLD THEM BACK IF THEY WANT CHILDREN OVER FORTY.

ANN SHUMAN:

"I did have a C-section, but again the outcome was a perfectly healthy baby. And I think that's what women need to hear, that you know pregnancy can be fine. Mine were great, they can be fine. Delivery can be fine, but there's that increased risk, but they're watching for it."

DR GILBERT'S STUDY HIGHLIGHTED THOSE RISKS BUT HE STILL ENCOURAGES WOMEN OVER FORTY WHO REALLY WANT CHILDREN TO GET PREGNANT

DR. BILL GILBERT:

"The most important thing I think is that although there was the significant increase risk in the pregnancy, the vast majority of the pregnancies did very well."

MEDICAL FACTS ASIDE, SOME PEOPLE FEEL THERE ARE BENEFITS TO PURSUING OTHER LIFE GOALS BEFORE HAVING CHILDREN. OLDER MOMS OFFER A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE ON MOTHERHOOD.

DR. BILL GILBERT:

"A lot of times earlier in our lives we are not quite as mature, maybe not quite as ready to deal with the pregnancy issues. We haven't worked out our own issues. Of course in the forties a family makes a conscious choice to have a baby. They're usually pretty well set financially, they're pretty well set emotionally, this is really a wanted pregnancy."

ANN SHUMAN

"I have a lot of friends who when they were younger had there kids and now, they're grandmothers, and now they're going traveling, they're doing all the things that I did younger. I also have equally as many friends that are waiting until they're older and more mature and ready and that is comforting."

ANN MENTIONED ONE MORE BONUS TO HAVING KIDS LATER IN LIFE: NO MATTER WHAT HER AGE IS, HER LITTLE BUNDLES OF JOY WILL KEEP HER YOUNG AT HEART.

If you are over 40 doctors recommend that you get your own health under control first, and this getting your blood pressure under control, that your exercising and eating right, and getting plenty of rest.

From The

UC DAVIS SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AND MEDICAL CENTER RESEARCH ARCHIVES