Pregnant at 51

[Elain51]

I stopped taking birth control pills after my insurance denied coverage. Every month after I turned 50 I had to have my Doctor call and justify by lying and telling the insurance company that this was prescribed to regulate my periods.  Before my 51 st birthday I decided that it was not worth the trouble and embarrassing.  

At my last annual in December, I discussed with my doctor and she recommended that I monitor my periods for the next 6 months and come back for a consultation.

I'm now 2 weeks late, my breasts are swollen an tender and the pregnancy test is positive.   I have 2 kids in high school and an 11 year old.

I just accepted a new job and planned to give my 2 weeks notice on Monday.  I'm still hoping this is a false-positive and something else is going on.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
Home pregnancy tests are 99% percent accurate.Sometimes false positive results are there like in chemical pregnancies,missed reaction time of the test(If you let the test sit for too long (after the instructions on the box tell you), the test is invalid) and if you are taking drugs that have hCG in them like Novarel, Profasi, Pregnyl.Pls check these conditions.

If you are doubtful regarding the status of your pregnancy,you can go in for blood pregnancy test which measures the amount of hCG in your blood.Transvaginal ultrasound at as early as 5-6 wks of pregnancy can also confirm pregnancy.
It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your doctor. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.

[AnnieBrooke]

Congratulations!  I am in your age range, and remind that at 51, your odds of completing a pregnancy are less, simply because the egg is an older egg and might not have all it needs to develop all the way through.  On the other hand, your particular odds of a successful pregnancy are better than many 51-year-olds, because you have had three other children.  Those rare women who conceive naturally and carry successfully later in life almost always have lots of other children.  

If you think you won't have health insurance coverage if you change jobs (because the pregnancy would be treated as a pre-existing condition or because the wait to get onto the new company's health coverage is too long), possibly it would be a good idea to call the job back that you just accepted, and tell them that a newly-discovered temporary medical condition makes it impossible for you to take the job at this time.  They might be willing to keep you in mind for the job later on.  At least if you keep your old job you can keep your medical coverage (that is, if you have it.)  At the least, don't give notice until you work this all out.