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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To not know if I can get pregnant at 49?

495 replies

Holyguacamollie · 14/02/2023 13:57

I stopped using contraception a few months ago because quite frankly I'm sick of it and when I googled getting pregnant at 49.6 it said it was 0-1% chance.

It felt like v good odds.

However. I now 'feel' pregnant and I'm a bit panicked. Period due in a few days.

Surely I couldn't be could I?

OP posts:
ThinWomansBrain · 18/02/2023 22:33

Friend of mine discovered she was pregnant at 50 - had gone to the GP with what she assumed were menopause symptoms.
'baby' is about 12-13 now.

OutofEverything · 18/02/2023 23:02

About 50 women a year in Britain naturally have a baby. So it is very rare.

Maireas · 18/02/2023 23:11

OutofEverything · 18/02/2023 21:49

A baby in your forties yes, fifties no.

That's the point. My mum had my sister at 45. That's actually really different to 49/50.

Zonder · 18/02/2023 23:36

OutofEverything · 18/02/2023 23:02

About 50 women a year in Britain naturally have a baby. So it is very rare.

Pretty sure more than 50 women a year in Britain naturally have a baby 😂😂😂

TheOriginalEmu · 18/02/2023 23:45

Sunflowergirl1 · 18/02/2023 08:38

FGS..go and get a Mirena. Brilliant and stopped my periods full stop. Will see you to 55 easily and you will be done then

Mirena isn’t for everyone or without risk. I got pregnant with one and ended up
perforating my uterus.

Sugarfree23 · 18/02/2023 23:46

Zonder · 18/02/2023 23:36

Pretty sure more than 50 women a year in Britain naturally have a baby 😂😂😂

I think she meant 50 women over 50 in the UK have a baby every year.

Mothership4two · 19/02/2023 00:43

Phew OP

There was a mum in our baby group who had accidentally conceived on a boozy surprise weekend away to celebrate her 50th. She and her husband had no other children. They both looked completely shell-shocked.

Darlingx · 19/02/2023 06:23

I became pregnant at 47 without trying I had slacked thinking fertility would be so low but I was told at the hospital its quite common in London . I felt I was having a geriatric pregnancy though I kept watching youtube videos that all seemed from the 80s of older parents and felt like a freak. I had so many checks and tests planned with hospital as part of it that at 11 weeks I had a massive panic attack straight after my apt as I was so overwhelmed. It just all seemed so impersonal The waiting room was like a hen coop. The service was pee in a pot and wait over there . Then waiting 30mins to try and exact blood from my dehydrated veins. I realised I hated being in hospitals . Anyway my scan at 13 wks showed the foetus had stopped growing around the time of that apt. The miscarriage was awful because it wouldn’t budge naturally and my womb was still expanding . I hadn’t realised that having a miscarriage can involve just a very slow process so I took the medication to move things along even so it’s a slow horrible process so I wouldn’t wish that experience on anyone at any age but yes you can become pregnant but perhaps unlikely to have a live birth so its worth being cautious.

Sennelier1 · 19/02/2023 07:17

You can ask your GP to check your fertility in a bloodtest. I did at 54 and was very disappointed to hear I had the fertility of a 35 year old. Back on the pill since I was too old for an IUD - so I could still get pregnant but not an IUD 😜 Menopause at 58.

Maireas · 19/02/2023 08:01

@Sennelier1 - so at 54 you had the fertility of a 35 year old and you had the menopause at 58? So a very rapid change. Were you not perimenopausal?

T1Dmama · 19/02/2023 08:49

I have 3 friends who had children in their late 40’s, and know of another.
mine friend had a baby with her new partner (planned) and then when she went in to be sterilised discovered she was pregnant again.
another had fertility issues and had one child and then never bothered using contraception. After 14 years and as she was going through the menopause she discovered she was pregnant. Typical !!
And then another lady I know from school had 2 babies a year apart in her late 40’s… and they were her 6th and 7th children! Both were born the same years as her eldest had her 2 babies, so they’re aunts and uncles to children their own age.

Vodkafairy99 · 19/02/2023 09:04

Ummmmmm, if you are having unprotected sex and are still having your periods, then yes you can get pregnant.......

KimberleyClark · 19/02/2023 09:25

Maireas · 19/02/2023 08:01

@Sennelier1 - so at 54 you had the fertility of a 35 year old and you had the menopause at 58? So a very rapid change. Were you not perimenopausal?

My mother had two children at 36 and 38 no difficulties in conceiving and was menopausal, not peri, by 45. Sometimes your window does close very quickly. I started ttc at 29 but never got pregnant.

Maireas · 19/02/2023 09:32

Yes @KimberleyClark - the female reproductive system is so widely variable, and the menopause seemingly impacts at random. I'm sorry to hear that you've struggled ttc - I've been there and it's mentally and physically exhausting. 💐

timeonmyside · 19/02/2023 10:10

My neighbour had a baby at 50 her youngest child at the time was 28. They were 65 and 68 dealing with a 15 year old teenager. They were both on pensions. This is going back 45 years and they were really struggling financially.
Having said all this it must have kept them young as they are both in their late 90s now and still going strong.

.

threatmatrix · 19/02/2023 10:11

I can’t believe I’m even reading this.

xJoy · 19/02/2023 10:14

what, that people think they can get pregnant at 49?

Well, it takes a while to fully inhabit the next identity of NOT needing to worry about getting pregnant.

KimberleyClark · 19/02/2023 10:51

@Maireas thank you!

CatA27 · 19/02/2023 12:18

OutofEverything · 18/02/2023 23:02

About 50 women a year in Britain naturally have a baby. So it is very rare.

Tbf, there won't be many women trying to conceive at that age. You would need to compare with how many women accidentally get pregnant at age 30 for example,not how many women fall pregnant at 50 with how many fall pregnant at 30 as many more would be trying at 30

Osiansmummy1 · 19/02/2023 20:07

My Nan did.. if you are still ovulating of course you can

Rockbird · 19/02/2023 20:22

@eastegg I agree although I guess we're the only ones that do. It just not a nice thing to say, regardless of the situation. I wouldn't wish a miscarriage on anyone, even if they don't want a baby.

Glad you got the outcome you wanted OP 💐

TheGoogleMum · 19/02/2023 20:23

We routinely ask women under 55 if there is any chance they could be pregnant before giving any form of radiation

Sennelier1 · 19/02/2023 21:02

@Maireas I went fom fertile to menopausal with hardly anything peri-me opausal in between. And I.know that 3 of my 4 great-grandmothers still had babies in their early fifties. Glad I knew I still had to take precautions though.

Maireas · 19/02/2023 22:02

It's probably better that way, @Sennelier1
It's awful when it drags on for years

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