Fuzzable
Plenty of women are delaying having kids due to taking the opportunity in their 20’s by going to postgraduate school, focusing on their careers, and focusing on themselves and enjoying their lives. They want to take the time to travel, enjoy nights out on the town, sleep in on weekends and taking advantage of their freedom while they have it. These women do want to have kids but don’t feel the need to rush it since they want to enjoy experiencing a life of freedom in their 20’s. But they are neglecting one thing – it can be difficult to get pregnant after 35.
However, there is one thing that they fail to consider by delaying to start a family until they are in their mid-thirties. Conceiving can certainly be done by the time these women are 35 and even 40, but the chances of having a successful pregnancy are less than it would have been if they were to have kids in their 20’s and even early 30’s.
In fact, it has been said that female fertility begins to slowly decline between the ages of 29 to 35, and after 35 the decline begins to accelerate. Women in their 20’s have a 20 to 25% of conceiving in their cycle, and from 29 to 35 it drops to 15% and over 35 the odds decline even more to 10% or less per cycle.
Once women enter their mid-30’s, they will have a tougher time conceiving because fewer eggs are released at that time. In fact, it is more common for them to start experiencing anovulatory cycles which means even though they have a period- an egg is not released. This is still the exception than the rule unless they were to have PCOS and this issue would be happening even in their 20’s if that is the case. However, having anovulatory cycles with or without PCOS is more common for women to experience by the time they reach 35. That in itself makes the odds of conceiving less by the time they reach that age.
Another issue that women who are 35 and older face are that at that stage, their egg quality and quantity begins to decline. Think about how the eggs that you eat have an expiration date and are no good after that, you can easily compare that scenario to a woman’s eggs heading closer to that expiration date. That means they are no longer fresh but still usable. This is why the risk of conceiving a child with chromosomal abnormalities like Down’s Syndrome or other conditions is higher than it would be for younger women.
Another complication that happens when older women get pregnant is that there is a higher risk of miscarriage, which likely correlates to the fact that the egg quality in women over 35 declines. More often than not, miscarriages are a result of an embryo not developing properly due to the chromosomal abnormalities. In fact, it is said that women over 35 have a 20-35 % chance of miscarrying which is high.
Other issues that can make conception difficult for women over 35 are the fact that it is more common for women of that age to have the following complications:
- Endometriosis– this is the uterine lining that is supposed to only be inside the uterus which is shed each month during menstruation grows outside of the uterus. This is very painful and can make achieving a pregnancy harder. In severe cases, major medical intervention is a must in order to make pregnancy possible.
- Fibroids or uterine disorders– Fibroids are non-cancerous growths that develop on the uterus and they happen more often in women over 35. This can get in the way of achieving a conception as well.
- Chronic health conditions like diabetes and hypertension– The fact is whenever anyone ages, the more prone they are to these conditions.
- Less cervical fluid. The fact that abundant cervical fluid during the time around and during ovulation is a sign of fertility since the cervical fluid is less in women who are 35 and over shows that fertility is beginning to decline as well.
However, there is good news and even though these facts and statistics are not promising, there are many women over the age of 35 that have gotten pregnant fairly quickly and had healthy pregnancies and had healthy children.
If you are 35 and over and want to conceive, you will need to talk to your doctor right away to talk about steps to take in order to increase your chances of having a healthy pregnancy. It is advisable to take supplements that contain Myo-inositol, melatonin, and most definitely folic acid. The folic acid may even help improve egg quality and will lessen the odds of conceiving a baby with neural tube defects. You should consider jumping right into fertility supplements too, like ConceiveEasy. Their TTC Kit even comes with pregnancy tests, ovulation tests and a body basal thermometer to help you on your way!
You will also want to focus on eating fertility friendly foods and getting your weight to an acceptable level and really taking care of your stress levels and overall health. Any bad habit such as smoking, drinking and drinking too much coffee needs to be ditched. Having one cup of coffee a day is fine but no more than that.
You will also need to begin charting your cycles to find out when you ovulate by taking your body basal temperature and checking your cervical mucus. In fact, if you stick to eating foods that are fertility friendly, that can increase the amount of cervical mucus as well during your fertile time in your cycle.
When you are ready to start trying, and after you know your cycles well, you will want to get ovulation predictor kits as well to find out when you are about to ovulate which is when it is time to get busy.
Another thing to remember is because of the fact that you are 35 or older, it will take longer to conceive than it would take a younger woman who has no fertility issues. Just be patient. Whatever you do never stress out over the time it could potentially take to conceive. Extra stress is not good and will lower your chances even more! Best of luck to you!
