Getting Pregnant After 40, What Are The Chances?
Flick through the latest magazine and you will find at least one story of a celebrity getting pregnant in their 40s. While having a baby in your 40s is today common occurrence fertility in women over this specific age threshold is one of the most challenging times in a woman’s lifetime.
What Are Your Chances of Getting Pregnant in your 40s?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that around 30% of women in their 40s experience infertility. This happens because fertility in women naturally declines with age. As far as statistics go, a 40+ woman only has a 5% chance of conceiving every month.
Not only do egg supplies drastically reduce with advancing age, but also the quality of the eggs. By quality, fertility experts refer to the egg’s ability to create a chromosomally normal embryo, and as women age, that declines. While there are no tests for understanding egg quality, it is understood that it closely correlates with age.
Fertility experts can estimate egg counts; that is called ovarian reserve testing. There are many ways of doing the testing. The most common way is by testing the blood for the hormone FSH on the second or third day of the period. A high number implies low eggs counts. Fertility care experts can visualize the ovaries and count the resting egg follicles. If a lot of resting egg follicles are seen, then that is a good sign. If a low number is seen, then that is a bad sign.
Strategies to Help Women Over 40 Get Pregnant
Nowadays, there are many different strategies that fertility experts use to help women over the age of 40 get pregnant. One of the strategies involves administering injections of the hormone FSH to recruit multiple eggs and combine that with artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization. The idea being that by getting more eggs and more embryos, the women have a greater chance of pregnancy.
If IVF fails, another treatment called ZIFT or Zygote Intra Fallopian Transfer can be used. The idea here is that by placing the embryo directly into the fallopian tube, the environment for the embryo to grow is optimized. Therefore, this helps the embryo to grow to a better state.
For women who no longer have viable eggs, fertility experts often recommend egg donation. In egg donation, the menstrual cycles of an egg donor and an intended mother are harmonized. The egg donor receives injections to encourage the growth of multiple egg follicles. The eggs are then retrieved and mixed with sperm to create embryos. The embryos are then transported to the intended mother for pregnancy. The success rate from egg donation is very high, over 50% every time an embryo transfer is conducted. For this reason, only one embryo is transferred at a time. Therapy for egg donation is often offered to women up to the age of 50 and even beyond in certain select cases, so long as the woman is healthy. The uterus does not age; it is the ovaries that age.
Tips for Getting Pregnant at 40
There are many at the age of 40 and more who go to get pregnant and have a baby. However, you have to have a different approach than a woman in her 20s or 30s getting pregnant. It would help if you were more strategic in what you do and plan.
Measure your egg reserves: The higher your egg reserves, the better the chances are for you to get pregnant. What this does is that it gives you more of an informed choice. It helps you plan in terms of what your next steps are.
Have more sex: Most women who reach the age of 40 often do not have an active sex life. While many have been in a relationship for a long time and have lost their sex drive, others are stressed and busy with their professions. However, the fertile winddown of six ovulation days is just the same, whether you are 40 or 30.
Try acupuncture: Acupuncture has often been suggested to be helpful for women that are trying for a baby. It is perfect for pelvic blood flow, especially when you get older.
Manage your stress: Many women today who have late pregnancies often have responsible jobs that come with much stress. They work long hours and are often incredibly tired. Add trying to have a baby to this mix, and more often than not, it will send any woman into a panic. So, it is best to look for ways to manage your stress and get some time back for yourself.
Have a plan: At 40, you have to be strategic about your pregnancy. You have to have a plan and be sure that you have no regrets about your pregnancy. The window is minimal in terms of how long you would try naturally to conceive before looking for more assisted options.
Final Takeaways
So, getting pregnant at 40, though difficult, is not impossible. All you need is one good egg, and that is enough scope for any fertility expert to work with.
Speak to your healthcare provider to find out if natural conception is still a possibility in your case. Alternatively, you may consider consulting a fertility specialist in your city.
Need A Recommendation?
If you are based in and around Hyderabad, be sure to take a look at MotherToBe, a well-known fertility centre that is headed by Lead Clinician Dr Vyjayanthi. With a long and positive reputation in this field, Dr Vyjayanthi is assisted by a team of practised and senior clinicians and fertility specialists that ensures that your fertility treatment is a stress-free experience as much as possible.
Dr Vyjayanthi across her 18 years of practice has personally performed over 10,000 IVF cycles adhering to the highest standards of patient care. Seek the counsel of Dr Vyjayanthi’s expert team for a personalised approach to your fertility condition and let your journey to parenthood with an experienced clinical and embryology team.