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?

[retta483]

im 36 and know alot of weoman in their 40's having babies and everything is fine I hear all the crud about downs from my mother in law  I ignore do what makes you happy and good luck lots of baby dust to you .

[Christine1273]

First I'd like to say thanks to everyone for their supportive comments. To CuriousGeorg: I would change doctors also. I am going through the same worry you are so I can completely relate. I am 37 and hoping to conceive in August/September. I'll be 38 when I deliver. I would say also to just make sure the water you drink is pure, eat organic and healthy when you can, and take the prenatal vitamins. That is all we can do:-)
To Leila's_Mom: Thanks for sharing the stastic that we still have a 98% chance of having a healthy baby, it sure made me feel better:-)

OH, and CuriousGeorg: keep us in the loop if you conceive!!

[allmymarbles]

Well I guess that statistics are that bad if you are a hopeless drunk, or a druggie, or in very bad health. In our family we have babies well into our forties and an aunt of mine had one at 50 and another at 52. All the babies were full term and healthy (as were the mothers). You are not a statistic. You are an individual.

[tones99]

I am 39 and was recently pg till 12 wks when we lost our baby .. but we never had one had one discouraging word about my age from our doc or midwives... I knew the risks and that we may have to have extra tests but all that was treated like being extra precautionary .. not that something was going to be wrong!

I have a lot of friends who are my age or older who for one reason or another didn't have their bubs till later .. and all of them are healthy .. no one I know has had a down's bub and I'm surrounded by healthy babies .. I think older mum's are more aware of their health and body's and look after themselves better .. so have great chances of producing healthy genetically strong eggs ..you having the knowledge of what could go wrong is the health practitioner's duty .. after that you can take what you want from it .. but after reading all these wonderful responses on here you can take heart that there are plenty of women out there your age or older with healthy pg's and babies.  good luck!

[trh0819]

I am 3 weeks shy of 38 and 10w5d pregnant with my first. My RE of course explained general concerns but was very supportive. In fact, most of his patients are my age or older seeking fertility treatment. I think that's the reference to multiple births. After 35, many women require assistance and once you begin taking medication, you increase your chances of twins. For example, we transferred two embies through IVF so we had a chance of twins but wanted to increase our chances of at least one implanting, so we were willing to take that chance. When I took Clomid before, I had several follicles each time so technically, several could have implanted. None did, which is why we moved on to IVF but with fertility treatment comes the risk of multiple birth.

[jmalton]

I am a 38 year old mother of 2 girls and I'm trying to conceive.  Reading all your encouraging words has put me at ease.  I was a little concerned, but I feel healthy and I believe it will be ok.  One thing that scared me a little though was someone said the chances of having multiples was greater as you get older?  Can someone expound on that?

Johanne