- Just curious how many here are over 35+?
- Is this your FIRST child?
- Do you have other medical conditions (mental or physical) that concern you in pregnancy (i.e. anything from depression (pre-natal or post-natal, Thyroid disorders, PCOS, Diabetes, weight management, fear of birth pain, or whatever)?
Being "advanced maternal age" (I'm 40, wondering if I'm the oldest one in this group!) poses more risks which I am learning about
(complications, Down syndrome, delivery complications, longer recovery time, etc). This is my first pregnancy, and although I'm in great health - I do have mild hypothyroid and chronic depression/anxiety. I'm honestly not worried about Zika, but more concerned about the well-documented risks of Down's syndrome, Post-partum depression syndromes, birth/developmental defects and scared about child birth in general!!!
Thought this could be a good thread to discuss the different challenges that come up for those of us in the over 35+ bracket :-)
Re: Mom's over 35+ ...with added mental/physical concerns
I'm 37 years old and this is my third child. I had PPD with my first and didn't recognize it for a good 8 months so it was a ROUGH go the first time around (had my first at 32 years of age). Neither my husband nor I understand that I was not going through a normal post-partum experience since none of our friends had kids either. I was terrified of a repeat performance with #2 but, with me setting every therapeutic safeguard in place, it didn't happen. It was amazing and glorious. Now that I've had a horrifying experience and a fabulous one, I hope that i'll recognize if I need help with my third.
This may be a UO but I will definitely be doing a CVS this third time around and getting an idea about the health of the baby. My BFF went through IVF and had her second at 40 years of age - she had the embryos tested before implantation and one of them did test Down Syndrome. They elected not to implant that embryo. Her second baby is healthy and the most amazing baby ever.
June Siggy Challenge: Robert Downey Jr
37 yr old mama with 4yr old DD and 2 yr old DS
Good to know that you were able to catch PPD the next time around. Did you set up therapy appointmments? I'm curious what things you did to safeguard yourself? Seems extremely common, and I am nervous about starting antidepressants if I will be nursing.
By CVS, I'm assuming you mean pre-genetic testing? Our RE did not suggest this, however, we will definitely do the amnio (even though invasive) because of the chances for Down's. I am very worried to say the least and hope that everything is OK!!! Baby dust to you!!
1. Re: PPD - I checked in with the therapist that treated my PPD with #1. I actually put it off until the last minute (39 weeks pregnant with baby 2) bc I was refusing to even consider that I could get cursed twice. Then reason and my DH made me realize I was being foolish and not protecting my family by having a plan in place. She took me in quickly and we designed a plan: if X happens, I will have DH call her by X time. I can't trust myself to call bc i rationalized that the depth of my depression was 'normal new mom' hard the first time. Long story short (I'm simplifying this a lot - there were many more steps and decision points that I can talk through if you ever need it), I never developed PPD the second time around. My H and I were giddy with how 'easy' things could be when you don't have someone crippled with mental health issues, despite our son having health issues the first year of his life. My H, my BFF and my therapist were all 'on watch' to challenge me if they saw signs developing again. Those, and the pre birth counseling (2 sessions) were key in making me feel like I had a safety net.
2. CVS- chorionic villus sampling - can be done at 10-13 weeks rather than amniocentesis, which is done later. Both are genetic tests, with CVS carrying SLIGHTLY more risk of miscarriage than amniocentesis. BFF went through IVF and they actually did genetic testing on the embryos before transfer. So they knew the sex and genetic profile of the baby from day 1.
baby dust to you! It's so hard to make these decisions and there's a lot of things to navigate through. Hope you find your path forward.
June Siggy Challenge: Robert Downey Jr
37 yr old mama with 4yr old DD and 2 yr old DS
https://www.sequenom.com/tests/reproductive-health/maternit21-plus#provider-references
June Siggy Challenge: Robert Downey Jr
37 yr old mama with 4yr old DD and 2 yr old DS
No health concerns really, other than my usual anxiety about pretty much everything that has transformed into worrying about chromosomal abnormalities and birth defects due to my age. I am on Lexapro, which I've now read can be a 3rd trimester issue, so that may be an issue at some point. My first appointment is still 2 weeks away.
new_ivf if it helps I know two women who had babies at 40 and both babies were and are perfectly healthy. They maybe came early but they are totally great and so are the mommas.
LFAF April Siggy Challenge - TV/Movie BFFS - Romy & Michele
This is my first pregnancy.
I don't have any health issues.
Being of "advanced maternal age," for now, I'm really hesitant to believe its real since the risk of miscarriage is higher. As far as down's syndrome and birth/developmental defects, I am just making sure I will have all of the tests I should.
At my first visit, I brought a list of age-related risks (diabetes, etc) and asked my doctor about each of them. He has encouraged me to relax and enjoy my pregnancy and let him worry about those things. I know and trust him. I'm surprising myself by actually being able to not stress too much which I think is also important.
This is my second child/pregnancy.
I don't have any heath issues but our first child was conceived through IVF after 2 yrs of TTC because DH has a low sperm count. This pregnancy was a very welcome surprise, we had just stopped preventing in January.
ETA: They showed a pretty in depth chart about what your odds for downs/birth defects was. It's really not as scary as you would think!
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1397867506905970&id=299626526730079&_rdr
38....39 when due
- Is this your FIRST child?
First pregnancy unexpected
- Do you have other medical conditions (mental or physical) that concern you in pregnancy (i.e. anything from depression (pre-natal or post-natal, Thyroid disorders, PCOS, Diabetes, weight management, fear of birth pain, or whatever)?
PCOS, overweight, fear everything isn't OK, Man-child hubby (hubby's contributions hehehe)
***TW****MC mentioned & BFP mentioned***
TTC#1 since July 2014
AMH 0.1, DOR, Poor responder
Moved to Prague, Czech Republic for IVF
DE attempt in Czech Republic!!
March trip to Prague canceled due to Pancreatitis.
Headed to Prague April 30
3 different donors resulted in 1 PGS tested embryo and 1 fresh embryo
BFP on 5/15/16 at 5dp5dt
My blog: www.wearethehammitts.blogspot.com
I am about the same number of weeks I think and I gave birth to a girl June 9, 2015...so a little less than 1 year between giving birth and getting pregnant. Not planned but I guess I don't have too many more years to have another right?
I'm 44 and 5 weeks pregnant. This is my 3rd natural pregnancy in my 40s, but will be my first child (hopefully). I've always taken very good care of myself - clean diet and plenty of exercise - so I don't have many issues. My big concern is that I have a mild form of osteogenesis imperfecta, which is brittle bone disease. I constantly have fractures and currently have a compression fracture in my back - ugh! I really don't know how well my back is going to handle the eventual watermelon, but I guess I'll just cross that bridge when I get there!
MMC 8/2/13 (8w2d)
BO D&C 5/22/14 (9w3d)
TW: Loss
Birth is safe as life gets - Harriette Hartigan
@hayleyarp I think we were in the same birth group DS was born Nov 9.
Edit: typo
BFP1 12/24/14 - EDD 09/07/15 (D/C 8w1d)
BFP2 6/12/15 - EDD 2/22/16 (D/C 10w3d)
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Diagnoses and Treatments
PCOS (myo-inositol, excercize)
Indeterminant levels of APS IgM antibodies (baby aspirin)
Sub-septate uterus (hysteroscopic septoplasty 12/18/15)
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BFP3 05/02/16 EDD 01/09/17 DS born 01/05/17
BFP4 01/28/19 EDD 10/?/19 🤞🙏