To be surprised at someone being pregnant at 44

In a Facebook group I’m in, one woman had a baby at 52, another at 53 and one knew a woman who discovered quite late on in pregnancy that she was having twins. Being 50 years older and the mother of adult children she thought she was going through the menopause. The twins are ten now and healthy. For reference all these women are in Ireland -as in this isn’t some huge international group. All pregnancies were natural and unplanned too.

Numerous other women had commented under the same post about having been pregnant in their 40s but these were the most notable comments I remember.

It’s not true that fertility dives off a cliff for all women at 35. In my family women have had babies naturally at 42, 43, 44 and 48. I think it became rarer for women to have babies in their 40s when contraception was made more easily available. For women who had been having baby after baby until they physically couldn’t have any more, contraception was life changing.

With control over their lives, more women have a career before having babies and as the cost of buying a house and paying for childcare goes up, more women are having babies later as they can’t afford to have them any earlier.

Babies born to women in their 40s has risen consistently in the last few decades in England and Wales. There are now more babies born to women in their 40s than to teenage mums.

I would have thought post 35 was rare

I notice you edited your post to add that last bit after 🫠

well You are funny 🤣…. You get annoyed so easily and your post has proved it again

I never had grandparents and my DD doesn’t have grandparents. Never bothered me and the only time DD has ever mentioned it was when she was feeling sorry for her friend having to go to grandparents house for the weekend when they’d have preferred to be out with friends. So it really isn’t on her radar 🤣

I never had grandparents and my DD doesn’t have grandparents. Never bothered me and the only time DD has ever mentioned it was when she was feeling sorry for her friend having to go to grandparents house for the weekend when they’d have preferred to be out with friends. So it really isn’t on her radar 🤣

Oh you are so wrong when you see others who have loving grandparents. Little girl next door has one very elderly grandparents who is bed bound. She asks her mum why she can't have a gran, it's such a shame. Sees her friends going to grandparents for sleepovers etc

Unless you have had all your levels tested you are being a little naive. There is a lot more going on when it comes to conceiving then looking and feeling young regardless of your incredible weight loss (congratulations! ❤️).

I struggled, had four miscarriages from the age of 29 - 39, a round of IVF which was successful initially but ended in one of the miscarriages. I was incredibly lucky to fall pregnant naturally at 39 despite being told we only had a 10% chance with IVF and carrying to term with a little help.

Hopefully this won’t be your situation but the poster was just trying to be helpful because fertility naturally drops significantly after the age of 35.

Whilst the OP is clearly trying to cause divide & is ignoring that most parents, regardless of their age, are all doing their best, science does show that it is harder for a lot people to fall pregnant after the age of 35 or not without additional health worries for both the child and mother.

I tried at 42 and got pregnant the first month. Everyone is different. You raise a good point about contraception. Many women use the longer term contraceptive injections and I do wonder if they have an impact on fertility for some women. Before contraception was available women would easily have babies way into their 40s. I do wonder what it is that has hit fertility so hard now.

Gosh you are easily amused .

I dunno, this is MN where everyone knows at least 6 people who got pregnant first try at 57, and age-related fertility decline is just a myth peddled by the patriarchy to keep us down.

It took me 7 years and 6 pregnancies to have a live birth. I started trying at 33. The problem was low egg quality, which is a factor of the ageing process.

People age differently. Some women have good quality eggs into their 40s, but they are statistically the exception.

We hear about those people, so it seems more common than it is. We don’t hear about all the people who try in their 40s and don’t succeed. The pregnancies that don’t happen, or don’t go to term, are not visible.

The only person I know who had a baby in their mid-late 40s used a donor egg.

Why I'm not on deaths door lol. I've just lost 7 stone and enjoying a few nonths of that first! I only want one baby so all will be well. I'm a young 36, look young, feel young, no health issues, very regular periods I'm good!

I never said that and you know it……twisting things is not a good look…. anyway I’m bowing out now and will leave you to fume. What a laugh you have given me. Please don’t reply I’ve laughed too much already

I got pregnant at 44, had been trying for 6 years after ds was born & nothing, separated from my husband & was pregnant with my new partner within 8 weeks as I had stopped using contraception due to thinking I was infertile, sadly I lost my little girl at 16 weeks.

It is definitely true. Some women might have a longer fertility cycle than others but it will be the very end of the cycle.
Sadly, many women wait until they’re 35 to start trying to get pregnant without any luck, longterm contraception the pill has to have an impact after fertility too.
If children is something that you truly want then it is better to start trying earlier.

Same way you know exactly how all parents of teenagers in their 60s feel!! This illustrates your logic perfectly actually. Yeh I’ve clearly hit a nerve with you I don’t know why. Have a nice day!

So you now know what all children think…the great oracle you. Yip I’ve hit a nerve. Go and chill

You are the one who clearly has a chip on your shoulder about something and I don’t know why 😆 No child gives a toss about other kids visiting their grandparents. Dream on love !

I had my DD at 42. No one at the school gates had any idea how old I was. Most people assume you’re in your 30s if you have a 5 year old. It was assumed that’s how old I was. Same happened to other members in my family who had babies in their 40s. All naturally conceived, much wanted babies. All happy and healthy.

Oh you are so wrong when you see others who have loving grandparents. Little girl next door has one very elderly grandparents who is bed bound. She asks her mum why she can't have a gran, it's such a shame. Sees her friends going to grandparents for sleepovers etc