How hard is it really to get pregnant at 35?

[Mudra85]

Hi All,

I'm 35 and have just had one NHS-funded failed round of IVF (chemical pregnancy). We're eligible for another round of funded IVF but were told this week that all the funding has been allocated for this year and that we'd have to wait until March to start a new cycle.

Now, here's the thing, we went down the IVF route to avoid having a child with a serious genetic condition I'm a carrier for. There's a 25% chance of having an affected child with each pregnancy. I've been pregnant before at age 34 (in 2020) but we found out our baby boy was affected with the condition and chose to terminate the pregnancy.

Given my age, 6 months seems like an awfully long time to wait, so we've decided to try naturally (as scary as that is given our history) and then have prenatal testing as early as possible to determine if the baby is affected with the condition.

However, I realise that even though neither of us have any known fertility issues we'd be very lucky to get pregnant within 6 months given my age.

Does anyone have any experiences of getting pregnant at 35 or older? How long did it take of active trying to get there?

@Mistressofnone

I conceived my first DC at 35, pregnant again at 38 (ended in MMC) and my second DC a month later. All first tries.

DH same age. I understand we were incredibly lucky but admittedly I was a woman obsessed with TTC and did ovulation tests and daily temping throughout, plus in the months leading up to TTC to get to know my cycle.

I'm 34, also obsessed with OKPs - use digitalis every month. Almost a year of trying with no success

OP you just don't know. I never thought it would take me this long, never ever in a million years. But here I am and the clock it ticking :(

Straight away at 35.

Had my first at 36, second month of ttc. Has second at 43, that took longer.

@Mudra85 hi. So sorry for your loss and your struggles.

Can I ask- is it CMT? I will be looking in to having IVF to avoid passing this down.

Can I ask at what stage in your previous pregnancy did you get the genetic testing done?

Wishing you all the best

Currently almost 36 weeks pregnant at age 35. Took around 18 months to conceive, include a miscarriage. We were waiting to be seen at fertility clinic when we conceived. I also have fibroids and low progesterone.

@Mudra85 Well then I wish you all the best of luck! Are you taking prenatal vitamins?

I conceived at 36 on 2nd month of trying which sadly ended in a miscarriage, then pregnant again on 2nd month of trying after that (when approaching 37), all well and first baby due end of the year. My midwife even commented "oh you're still young!" and had no issue with my age. I thought we'd take at least 6 months with all the "over 35" media hype, but not the case for many women. Pregnancy is a lottery for all of us annoyingly. Even though I conceived quickly first time I still had a loss, it's not always an easy road. Wish you luck with your journey OP

@Veronika13 I'm sorry it's taking much longer than you expected. I hope you get good news soon! It also took me a year to get pregnant between the ages of 33 and 34, but I wasn't tracking properly and I don't think we DTD enough or at the right times.

Have you had your hormone/ partner's sperm levels checked and a scan to confirm that everything looks OK? We had everything checked last year and also know that we respond well to IVF (had IVF 5 months ago), so we have some assurances that everything's working OK, but I'm considering paying privately for a fertility MOT just to be sure nothing much has changed in that time.

@rockingchairhero it's not CMT, it's BMD.

I was nearly 20 weeks pregnant when we had our TMFR. I had genetic testing in the month leading up to that. I was firstly checked to confirm my carrier status. When I was confirmed as a carrier, I then had a blood test to confirm the gender, which was a boy. I then had an amniocentesis to confirm if the baby was affected with BMD, and he was. Only boys can be affected with BMD, so if it was a girl we wouldn't have had an amniocentesis.

Wishing all the best to you too!

@IsabelHerna thanks for the luck. We definitely need it! We've not had much luck so far and so rolling the dice with trying naturally again is very daunting.

I'm taking prenatal vitamins with folate, vitamin D, Omega 3/DHA and a few other things. I've been on all of those for quite some time now due to having fertility treatment, so I'm hoping they help!

6 months at 36 but it was number 3 and we werent dtd on specific days etc. (years ago before cheap ovulation kits).

@Seasalt1984 I'm so sorry about your miscarriage. Congratulations on your current pregnancy. I hope it goes smoothly for you! Consultants from my fertility clinic tell me that I'm young still, but I guess every woman is very different and I wonder what they consider to be old in terms of fertility.

@Mudra85 I believe they will help. Good luck with your treatment!

You could both try supplementing with ubiquinol, which is the more readily absorbed form of co-enzyme q-10. It is shown to improve egg quality in older women and I gather is also good for sperm quality (although I would check the latter). I took it when ttc and got pregnant quickly. I know it won't affect the genetic quirk, but might help the actual conceiving part. 600mg is a good dose, I used the Vytox brand ones from Amazon.

Conceived 3 times within 3 months each time between 36-40.

@SheWoreYellow Thank you for the chart! It really puts things into perspective.