Over 37 & fallen pregnant please sign in here, need positive stories for my Sister................

If by the right age to stop you mean practically - then I would just add that many clinics won't treat women over 43 with IVF unless either their FSH levels are low or their having egg donation. Obviously if you're not having reatment I wouldn;t bother stopping until you feel that there is as age at which you do not want a baby. Eg a friend of mine conceived for the first time at about 42 and miscarried, she and her husband decided not to try again as she felt "too old" to be getting pregnant at 43+. For what its worth I thought she was nuts and she was an exceptionally young 43. But hey-ho, each to their own.

I'm delighted to know that against all the odds a woman who is over 40 can still be a brilliant Mum, if!

sam - the thing is, Suejonez is right, and although there are loads and loads of us who have conceived without problem at 40 plus, that is of no relevance at all to another individual woman who simply cannot conceive at that age - for the individual it is a yes / no situation, not a question of keeping trying.

And not sure what you mean by the right age to stop? She can find out whether she is still producing eggs - aside from that why should anyone decide to stop before menopause?

Oh yes, and my two closest mum friends didn't conceive until over 40 and they are brilliant mums.

I was told I couldn't conceive after an ectopic pregnancy destroyed a fallopian tube and left the other badly scarred 10 years ago. Then, hey presto, at 37 I was suddenly pregnant! Dd's nearly 4 now and it was the BEST thing that ever happened to me.

I had my last child at 38 and don't think I did anything remarkable, although I can understand that it might not seem easy if you had not had any children by that age and wanted to start on your first. But even so, there are plenty of women who don't have children until they are 37 plus, as this thread shows.

Living in this part of London NO-ONE would think 40 was too young, it seems to be the norm! Congratulations - there is an older mums thread somewhere if you want to hang out with us wrinklies...

I'd just like to add that i am 40 and after 9 months of trying and almost giving up hope i am 9 weeks pregnant with no 5. I also worry that people will think i am too old but really its nobody elses business. I was 17 when i had my first and at that time i was frowned upon for being too young.

Tracey

SJ, excellent post, very sensitively put and you are absolutely right.

To be fair my prolems werent caused by age, my hormone levels were good and egg quality was good. Just genetically crap reporductive system. But I met a lot of women in the process and most of tehm said they wished they'd realised quite how difficult it becomes over 40.

Still, lots of hope based on the stories here.

SJ, you're right - DD1 born by ICSI

was 38 when 1st DD was born and 40 when 2nd was born.

Can I just add a note of caution. You fertility does decline quite quickly after about 36 ish (obviously varies for different women) and for every story on here of women who have conceived over 37 there are about 5 who have not (including me). Success rates of IVF for example in women over 40 are about 8% (dependng on clinic).

So if she's serious she needs to get on with it - she has an excellent chance of succeeding if she goes for it now or soon. I don't want to put a damper on everyone's lovely stories but you rarely hear the unsuccesful ones as we don't talk about them.

One friend of mine at 43 is bitterly regreting not realising sooner how quickly her fertility would decrease and that she had been trying properly in her 30's.

Im PLANNING to have my next one at 36/37.
Was 33 when i had my first and am not ready yet to have another one for a couple more years i think.
I will be 36 next month.

My friend was 41 and 44 when she had her 2 (the second was an 'easy' homebirth too).

I couldn't give birth naturally because of the fibroids. I tried to, because the fibroids hadn't been diagnosed at that point, but after a horrible 23 hour labour one of the doctors found "an unspecified physical obstruction" and I was rushed into theatre for an emergency Caesarean. The obstruction was a massive fibroid under the baby's head.

I know other women who have given birth naturally with small fibroids, but I think if they are large you don't stand much of a chance. Hopefully your sister will get a thorough investigation now and during any pregnancy, which will show how big they are and where they are situated.

I don't think enough is known about fibroids, and because they are not life-threatening I felt some doctors didn't take them very seriously. Also, so much depends on their size and location: they might stop conception or might not, they might cause a miscarriage or might not.

I would recommend going to see a nutritionist, which I did a couple of months ago to try a fibroid-reducing diet.

I am 38 - will be 39 when baby is born.
Two of my friends just had babies : 40 and 41(her 1st!)
Cherie Blair was 45...

I had one at 38, one at 40 and one at 43. So no, I'd say it's not too late for your sis :)

Single and adopting an under two year - yup doing it by choice. If your sister is in the London area I can hook her up with a group of single mums (or trying-to-be mums)over 35 that meet about every 6 weeks.

I AM 38 - 16 WEEKS POSTPARTUM AND PLANNING NUMBER 6!!!

Crikey I have a 12 yr old and am 36 and am ttc another one at least
I'm healthy, fit and prepared and folic acided up.
Bring it on!

I had ds at 37.
Never occured to me that I was too old!

I was 37 yesterday and I am 8 weeks pg