To be surprised at someone being pregnant at 44

[Onempretime7788]

I would have thought post 35 was rare

34 and 37 for me, I’m 42 now and would definitely consider 44 very late for a first baby. We started trying for our first at 31, took us 3 years TTC, I was also young and healthy. We were lucky that we didn’t need intervention in the end although we did do some tests and my husband had to make some lifestyle changes. Second baby took just two months of trying.

My friend had her second set of twins at 47. Her first set were 17!

My grandmother gave birth to my dad at the age of 47. My other grandmother had her last at the age of 42, her husband died shortly afterwards, so had he lived there could have been more. I was 40 when I had my last. A colleague had her only child at 46 after thinking she would have none. Years of trying and she thought she was menopausal. A surprise baby. If a woman is menstruating she can get pregnant. Why is that a surprise to you?

Dh's grandmother gave birth to his mum when she was 44 in the 1930s so not a new thing.

When my mum had my youngest sister age 37, she was deemed an "elderly multigravida" 🤣 she gave birth in a maternity home and was kept in for about a week. There were several other mums in there 40s in there who had thought they were on the menopause.Turns out they were all preggers
🤣🥰

Really?

I would say 44 is quite rare, but past 35? Ridiculous! Loads of people have babies between 35 and 40.

This is from google-

Women over 40 are having more babies than the under 20s for in the first time in nearly 70 years. These are official figures for England and Wales.
There were 697,852 live births in 2015.
There were 15.2 births per 1,000 women aged over 40, compared with just 14.5 per 1,000 women in their twenties.
The last time the over 40s had the higher fertility rate was in 1947, in the wake of WWII.

I had my first at 37 and my second at 40.

@Boots89 gently, I agree you don’t know if it will be easy for you. You sound rather naive.
Regardless of age, many people struggle and if you’ve been 7 stone overweight for a period of time that may have had an impact on your health. I wish you all the best though.

I wish you well but having been through the fertility process - science says a woman’s fertility drops off dramatically after 35. It’s not about regular periods it’s about egg quality. Is it impossible to get pregnant older? Yes of course - I know someone who fell pregnant naturally at 54. But I am also sorry to say I know lots more women who struggled in their late 30s. I encourage you to research the science, because if you did your only conclusion would be that yes it’s possible but the odds are greatly reduced so bare that in mind when making future plans.

I so bought into the whole diminishing fertility thing that I was a bit casual with contraception - I got pregnant at 41 and had my child at 42. At the time, I’d had sex twice the with my then partner.

Op yes I think I’d be shocked if a friend got pregnant at 44. Obviously it’s not impossible.
But, Out of everyone I know, I only have one friend who fell pregnant at 42 and that was her first baby with a partner she met later in life.

most other people seem to be either knackered, peri menopausal OR just starting to find themselves and feel good again now their kids are a little older and less reliant on them so I would be surprised if most of them
chose to have a baby at 44.

I was 40 and 44 when had mine but did also have 5 mc, and a DS scare, and so while it was without intervention it was with a lot of heartbreak and anguish.

I mean it’s definitely unlikely from a fertility perspective but not impossible. There will be plenty of people that age who try and don’t get pregnant, but that doesn’t mean for those it works for is weird. And most people I know have kids over 35. I had mine at 37, 39 and about to try for my third at 41. However, I am using frozen embryos this time, frozen when I was 37 (from the round I had my first, my second was a surprise!)

Started TTC at 25. Took five years and IVF to get my first. I am not saying it will be the same in your case but better off just getting on with it.

Pregnant at 44 - on MN you’re a spring chicken. In the real world - yes very surprising

The thread is making me feel like a freak. I just had my baby at 45. No interventions.

This isn’t surprising, it’s part of the reason the birth rate has reduced so dramatically in the UK and many other western countries tbh. Women are waiting and as a result, often struggling to get pregnant or if they do, they just have one child.

I was diagnosed with premature ovarian failure at 39. I had been ttc for 10 years at that point.

It’s unlikely from a fertility perspective and can does happen - I’d be a tad judgy the person had used donors though

44 is rare but there are still plenty of people who can get pregnant at that age naturally and more who will get pregnant with ivf nowadays. I would argue it’s rare to not be able to get pregnant between 35-40. Yes there will be more miscarriages at that age compared to younger women but the majority can still get pregnant and most of those pregnancies will be healthy pregnancies.

Interesting.

I don’t personally know a single person who got pregnant after forty.

On MN it seems to be quite common though so…

Of course you’re not a freak! But if you’ve already had your baby you must already know that 45 is pretty unusual. Nothing wrong with it, and congratulations on your baby, but I do think MN doesn’t really reflect reality when it comes to having a baby as an older woman

My first was due the week after I turned 30, and that week made me an 'elderly primagravida' to the NHS in 1999.