Older mamas!

sdeidra

Hi! I'm 34 and will be 35 when I have my baby, anyone else of "advanced maternal age" that sounds so awful. This will be my second child. Curious if any of you have been through this or will be - curious to know what all the extra tests and everything are. So excited to meet all of you! I joined my birth month club with my son and we moved to a Facebook group and some of those ladies are now some of my best friends! 

ali76

Oh boy--if you're "advanced maternal age" I must be off the charts! Lol! Just turned 40 last month. Have a 6 year old daughter so this will be our second. I honestly don't feel any older than I did when I had my daughter, so I have no idea how this pregnancy will go. I'm just praying this little one isn't as "busy" as my DD. She is always on the go--has been since she came out. I don't know if I'll have the energy for that this time around

sdeidra

Lol @ali76 my doctor said it's 35 and older. I'm just curious how a second pregnancy will go in general! I know people that say it's both harder and easier. I'm definitely worried how I will give attention to both my kids but my son is SO excited. Actually I'm pretty sure he's going to tell everyone at preschool today...

Cynth0104

@sdeidra, my son is super excited too! Held it in for 3 days at preschool before he told everybody. 

I'm 34. Will be 35 when baby comes.

krys-2

I'm another that is 34, but will be 35 when baby arrives (turn 35 in March). I have my first appointment on the 6th, and it's with a new doctor. I'll be interested to see if he ends up considering me high risk due to age, and then  recommends all the other tests that come along with it. I figure I'll be on the line. I don't have any health concerns that would put me in that boat, so I feel like it could really go either way at this point. 

ETA: This is my first, so I can't comment on the other parts of your question. #latetothegame lol

theweevee

I'm 35 and my OB laughed when I suggested I may be high risk.  "Not at this office...you've got years to go" was her response.  I live in a major metro though.  Apparently 35 and up is pretty common here!

sdeidra

@theweevee well that makes me feel better! Ha

satsumasandlemons

I'm 36 but when I had my first 5 years ago at 31, I felt like a teen mom here in LA! Everyone in my mommy and me class was late to early 40s and well established. 

mamadcb

I just turned 35. Was 34 when my first was born, so I am curious about this too. I'm only a little older but I crossed the magic AMA line. One of my main questions for my OB is what I can expect to be different in my prenatal care this time. 

KM2J

Yah, I am pretty sure its not that abnormal to have kids at 34 these days.  I had my first at 34 and we are having our 2nd at 39.  My sister was much younger when she had hers and our pregnancies and appointments were not much different.  I had fertility issues, but they are related to PCOS not age.  No worries!

tsarina-2

@theweevee Same here! I had my first baby at 36 and my OB was like, 'you are NOT advanced maternal age around here.' I'm in the bay area though, where people tend to marry later and have kids later. 

@sdeidra I'm 38 now, and this is my third AMA pregnancy. My understanding is that 35 is pretty arbitrary and is used primarily for insurance purposes - once you're 35 you qualify for extra or more extensive genetic tests. The rationale is that women who are older are at slightly higher risk for certain complications, such as chromosomal abnormalities*, but 35 isn't a magic number or anything. I view the classification as a benefit because it means more tests should be covered by your insurance. Beyond the extra genetic testing, I personally didn't experience any difference due to my age.

*I should add that the likelihood of chromosomal abnormalities is still very low

Itsnotyourturn

@sdeidra if you think AMA sounds bad until somewhat recently is was called geriatric pregnancy.  Yeeesh.  Would not want to read that on my chart.

ladipale

@tsarina - i'm also in the Bay Area! (San Jose). when i had my 2nd daughter - I was 32 and my OBs youngest pregnant patient. ha! I'm now 35 so "AMA" but she assures me its just for insurance benefits. She told me she delivered a 50 year old woman a few months ago!!!

sdeidra

50?! Wow! 

I just hope hope I get to have the genetic test that determines gender by blood work early in and have it covered by insurance! (Sorry not sure what it's called)

RobinaCee

I'm a surrogate and this baby will be born when I'm 43! I had the first surrogate babe when I was 41!

LimeKrazy

@Itsnotyourturn ugh!  That is awful.  Nothing like making a momma feel older than she does already!  Not that AMA is that much better 

I just turned 35 in October and have one little who turned 3 in June.  I'm high risk for other reasons as well (clotting disorder and a genetic translocation that we'd had in previous pregnancies).

caribbeanmama-2

Uhm I don't like the title of this thread gah!  I don't like AMA, and geriatric is positively putting me in the grave.

I'm 38 ouch!  I don't like writing that number down either!  Damn this thread! I will be 39 when I deliver unless I can squeeze the watermelon out sooner!

I'm fantastic and I feel great (apart from the stinking nausea).  Can we come up with a better name that makes us feel good!  I can't handle the truth.

mslynn2012

I'm 34, will be 35 when baby arrives. The only difference so far is the option for the blood test that checks the baby's DNA (only offered to mom's of advanced maternal age)... done around week 10 (I think). I can find out baby's sex at that point too, but we are team green so...

adwnyc

I am 41 and will be 42 when the little squirt arrives, so I am definitively AMA (and proud of it!). I was 40 when my daughter was born. The Maternity21 (genetic blood test) is great. Also, if you are 40+, my doctor does not let you go past 39 weeks and I had weekly ultrasounds starting at 35 weeks. 

satsumasandlemons

Oh s/o Genetic blood tests! For older moms, what are you going to take and when?? 
 
I still need to talk to my doctor (my firstappt is 12/15, so far away) but I am definitely doing this. 

Sassenach1743

I'm 36 and since my birthday is in July, I may or may not be 37 by the time I deliver. My birthday is 7/22 and my EDD (not confirmed yet) is 7/13... so we will see. 

I'm a bit put off by the AMA category, but not at all worried about being pregnant over 35. I wasn't even ready to start trying until I was 35 so I feel perfectly comfortable and not too old at all. If the doctors want to be extra careful, great... please let them pay attention, I'm good with that. 

Really am glad to see so many other Moms in here that are 35+

sdeidra

I didn't mean to make anyone feel bad! Lol! 

rklinge0

Not ama but wanted to chime in about chromosomal abnormalities since I do have some knowledge on that. The myth is that women over 35 are at a higher chance but in reality it's based on how many women in that age group are having babies, so less pregnant women 35 and up so it shows the chances as being higher. Also 80% of babies with trisomy 21 are born to moms under 35. In my national D.S. group the average age of moms is 28 which makes sense because that's around the average age of women having kids. 
I am using the word chances because my child is not a risk.

Saltina11

Hi! I'm another "older" mom. I am 37 and will be 38 when July 2017 rolls around. This is my first AMA pregnancy. I am more cautious in my excitement this time. I want to make sure everything is okay/ viable before publicly sharing my pregnancy news.

Saltina11

I never realized that about the statistic. 

tsarina-2

@rklinge0 and @saltina11 As women age, the likelihood of certain chromosomal abnormalities occurring increases. This is not a myth.

According to the National Down Syndrome Society "the incidence of births of children with Down syndrome increases with the age of the mother. But due to higher fertility rates in younger women, 80% of children with Down syndrome are born to women under 35 years of age." So most kids with Down syndrome are born to younger women because younger women have the most kids, but that doesn't change the fact that the likelihood of Down syndrome increases with age. 

Saltina11

Just now seeing my ancient tickers lol... obviously been awhile since I was last here, could someone remind me how to change them? 

danica01

I stand up and proudly say.....I am an owner of a geriatric uterus, hehehehehehehe!!!!!

I am 37 and will be 38 when I have my first little one (God willing).

It has been a roller coaster for us and I must say I feel blessed to be having a child at my age (any age) as well as terrified. We spent an entire year undergoing IVF (2015-2016). From retrieval to the end of three FET's we experienced the joy of hearing those words you're pregnant twice but sadly also experienced the words you are going to lose your baby both times realizing the last one is it, no more little snow babies to be put pack in. All within 6 months of each other. My last miscarriage was complete and I started my first cycle the first week in August. We started the paperwork and trying to figure out how to raise the funds needed for our Domestic Infant Adoption. One day I just looked at my DH and said I am not willing to stop trying yet. We decided to just try while we wait for our homestudy to be scheduled. Three cycles went by and on election day I just felt blah and decided I had one test left from our last FET and within a few seconds I was pregnant!!!!! NATURALLY PREGNANT AFTER IVF!!!!! I can't wait to walk into my IVF doc and show off my bump in a few months (once again God willing).

I am terrified of miscarrying again, terrified of genetic disorders due to our age and even a little nervous about my little one graduating when I am in my late 50's BUT I think there is something to be said for us older mamas. We are wiser, know what we want and are pretty darn stable in my opinion OR maybe that is what I tell myself I look at all of us and think what a miracle it is for us to all be sharing this amazing time together as a little cohesive unit binded together by our "geriatric" uteruses!!!!!!

Happy and healthy nine months to us all and all our little ones.......stick....stick.....stick!!!!!!

mama2stepmama

I'm 38 and will be 39 when this babe is born. I'm planning a homebirth and the only testing my midwife suggested is the genetic screening via blood work at 12 weeks and an anatomy scan at 20 weeks. 

Sassenach1743

@danica01 That's really exciting! FX all goes smoothly for you... happy & healthy 9 months indeed!