Pregnant early 40's

[savethatkitty]

I've just found out I am pregnant at 43.

Tell me Mumsnetters, what is it REALLY like to be pregnant & have a newborn in your 40's.

The good, the bad, the ugly...

I don’t have children so can’t answer your question. I am trying to conceive at 39 though so keen to see the answers to this! Hopefully this comment bumps it to the top of the chat list for you and people might see it again. If that fails put a picture of a test on, they always seem to get lots of interest! 😂

I got pregnant and had DD at 40, nearly 41.

I have no basis for comparison really. I had a rocky start to pregnancy with a few bleeds and a lot of anxiety around that, but physically I felt pretty well throughout (I mean extreme tiredness, occasional nausea, constipation, fair amount of pelvic pain and shocking heartburn all played a part at some stage but I’m pretty sure that’s just pregnancy, I definitely fared better than others I know).

I was under consultant care and got pushed into an induction I didn’t really want but felt I needed to go along with, the only reason given was my age. Possibly as a result of the induction I didn’t have a great birth and possibly as a result of that couldn’t breastfeed - never produced a drop of milk.

I don’t feel any different to any of the other mums of babies/ toddlers I know I don’t think. I’m tired often, but I think that’s just having a 15 month old. I’m certainly not the only 40+ year old at the groups we go to. I worry quite a lot about being around for DD for as long as possible. She probably won’t get a sibling which is something I have very mixed feelings about.

That’s my perspective as an older first time mum of course. It would probably be very different if you already have older children.

Congratulations OP!

I am 42 and 14 weeks pregnant with my third. All is going well so far - I've never had morning sickness in any of my pregnancies, am usually tired in first trimester but am back to normal now I'm in the second. No bleeding or pain. I'll be having a c-section due to previous gynae issues (not age-related). I was 38 when I had my second, and had no problems with recovery or breastfeeding.

I'd highly recommend getting an NIPT test (non-invasive test for genetic abnormalities). I got pregnant last year at 41 and had the test, which turned out to be positive for trisomy 18, so sadly had a TFMR at 14 weeks. There is a higher risk of issues like that (and miscarriage, which can be due to genetic issues too) at our age. I've just had the NIPT for this pregnancy and the results are very low risk, so that's put my mind at rest.

Congratulations!
I had my first at 40 and my second at 45!
Both pregnancies were fine with no issues apart from terrible nausea.
My youngest is 14 months, yes it's tiring but so much better now he's that bit older and sleeping well at night!
We go to a couple of baby groups and I'm certainly not the only older mum!

I'm 41 and 14 weeks pregnant with DS3. I have been very ill but it's all relative -- this has actually been a significantly better pregnancy so far than either of my previous ones, even though I was a lot younger then (boys are 6 and 8). I'm actually enjoying pregnancy now for the first time! The chances of a chemical pregnancy or a miscarriage are a lot higher at this age, so I didn't even tell my mother until we'd had a good 12 week scan (and I had several chemical pregnancies before this conception), and was generally a lot more cautious / tried not to assume anything until the end of the first trimester. The hospital seem pretty relaxed about my age though, I think a lot more women do have babies in their 40s now, and in any case there have always been women having 3rd/4th or more children at this age.