Healthy Baby At 38?

[CuriousGeorg]

Went to the doctor today to get a script for prenatals and discuss plans to become pregnant.  I am 38 years old.  She immediately began to spout off statistics about Down's and other problems associated with advanced maternal age.  I must be living in a bubble because I didn't realize that 38 was such a negative number for pregnancy.  Now I am freaked.  Are the statistics that grim?  I have one healthy seven year old son.  Does this help my chances of another healthy pregnancy/baby?

[griffin27]

I'm 37 and thinking of trying for my 2nd. I'm a little scared. I have a 4yr old son and my partner is 58. What are the chances his sperm being healthy? We get so tired but can't help thinking that a little brother or sister for our son would help him and the family when we/he is older. Our family is very small and we have no support system in place so whether to go through it all again is the dilemma, but isn't that being selfish

[jle6906]

I thinnk some of that is because of women of AMA taking meds to get pregnant. Anytime you are taking meds or procedures to aid in getting pregnant, that increases your chance or multiples. That statistic is a little misleading.

[hasnas99]

so weet of you, eventhough the reply was not for me!! I am just a reader...

[JourneyJoJo]

The risk of down syndrome definitely rises with age, but it doesn't mean you can't conceive and have a healthy baby in your late 30s.  I delivered my first at 41.  He's happy and healthy with no issues.  I am currently 25 weeks pregnant and will deliver at 44.  My changes of ds before screenings was 1:49.  After the NT scan and blood screen, my chances of delivering a baby with ds is 1:3900 with 90% accuracy.  Given these results, my OB did not think that an amnio was necessary unless I really wanted one.  We opted not to have one.  For us, our RE was more 'negative' than my OB, probably because they see so many women of advanced maternal age trying to get pregnant unsuccessfully vs the OBs who see you after your first trimester, meaning (1) you're already pregnant; (2) you haven't miscarried; and, (3) you've already been through your first screen so if there's news about ds, you've probably already received it.  Super sticky baby dust to everyone!

[yobear]

You guys with all this positive feedback is making me glad that i decided to have a baby, I'm 39 and due September 25th, I lost my first baby @ 38 weeks in 1996 and i was only 23 years old, young and healthy as can be 7lb baby boy Brandyn. . .   Thanks for all the positive messages. . .and  wish me luck on this little one He or she was planned from conception 8-)

[dd844]

hello im 35 and 18 weeks preg now my husband is 41 he has 3 boys 20,19,17 and i have a 15,and the only girl 18 so we have 5 together and have been married for 11years this is our 1st together we tired for 5 yrs dr after dr meds and all the fertil loop and never nothing so 5 yrs later boom went to E.R. for dizziness and fainting and i was told the big news after 2 weeks of shock we are now happy and cant wait we thought 2-1/2 more yrs and the last one will graduate and were FREE now we will have 1 hopefully a girl here with us. please prey for us we go on tues to find out the sex. Anyways enought about me i was writing due to dr about down sy and other things we were sent over to a testing lab that they offered for 35 and up and tested for everything and all our risk were very low anyways but everything came back fine,so far but anyone whos tring to get preg. my dr had me on metaformin it might be misspelled but its also perscribed for diabetes you might want to try this he said fertilty clinics use it and charge lots of cash so hope this all helps. good luck everyone