Thinking About Getting Pregnate

[little d]

Hello Ladies

My husband surprised me last night in discussing having another baby, our daughter is 8yrs old and I will be starting all over again. I kinda think that I am a little too old for another baby, I'm 37yrs old, but he is 34 so he does not see my view. I did make a Dr Appt Friday with my OB so here are the questions that I plan on asking and feel free to give me ya'lls opionion too.

Will I be considered high risk for advanced maternal age?

will I need to have an amnio for testing for Downs and other associated syndroms?

will i need a C/S for my age I prefer not to have a C/S because I don't like epiderals, did not have one with my Daughter, I had 10 of Demoral at the end and it wore off before she was born and in result she was very alert, I wanted a natural birth as possible and I gave into presure from the Dr. she wanted me to get an epidurl I tried explaining to her that I did not want anything in my back that just creeps me out. And I am certainly not afraid of needles but when it comes to my back no way. usually when a mom gets a spinal which is farther in the Anstiologist went in too far. So what do ya'll think am I too old, I'm older and am a little more patient, I currantly work with newborns so I know what to look for and understand more about babies. And if I do have another baby and have it vag then I would be able to ask if I could give my baby the first bath, especially if the nurse is into teaching and letting the parents do the bath as part of teaching.

Being an older woman are there more problems with pregnacy, like miscarriage, trouble getting pregnate. My pregnacy with my daughter as my brother puts it boring, I got pregnate really easy the first try and there we go off to the races I only gained 12lbs Im short 4'11" so she took alot of room and I was full at every meal with a couple of bits, but I did eat often, really did not show until my 6 almost 7th month. My labor was short for my first time even though I did have a lot of Braxton hicks that I confussed as real. Total labor time from start 7am with Pitosin to finish at 2:40 PM the same day would have had her at 2:15 if the doctor was in the room when I was wanting to push. My OB is not the same doctor who delivered my daughter thank goodness. And also do I need to worry about my possible Celiacs with no diagnoses and trying to get pregnate, we have not used any protection for the last 6 yrs he usually just withdraws not inside. But we have had a few scares but not nothing because usually when I was late it was because I had new women start at my job and my body wants to go with there bodies flows. So we will see what the doctor tells me on Friday, and if my husband changes his mind once again..

donna

[Guhlia]

Will I be considered high risk for advanced maternal age? - It depends on the doctor. You will be higher risk than younger mothers, but it will really depend on your doctor as to whether or not you're classified as such.

will I need to have an amnio for testing for Downs and other associated syndroms? - I don't believe these tests are ever required. I think it depends on whether or not you would act upon the results and terminate if there's a possibility of Downs.

will i need a C/S for my age - I can't imagine why they would require you to have a c-section if you didn't have one with your first. If your doctor mandates that, I would start looking for another doctor.

am I too old - absolutely not!!! So long as you feel as though your physical capabilites aren't diminishing and you'll still be able to roll around on the floor, why not???

[Ursa Major]

Donna, since this won't be your first baby, your age won't be a risk factor. No, you won't need to test for Down's syndrome. First of all, Angie is right, that it is never required. Secondly, the risk is for older women who are having their FIRST pregnancy. If you are gluten-free, you won't be high risk, and aren't more likely to miscarry than other women (of course, you can't ever rule it out).

You are certainly not too old. I had my youngest daughter when I was 38. My mother had my youngest brother when she was 45.

Why would you think you'd need a c-section? Even if this was your first baby (which it won't be, of course), there would still be no good reason to purposely schedule a c-section, unless required by circumstances at birth.

You go ahead and make this pregnancy and labour as normal and natural as your first one. And enjoy it, once you get pregnant. Because I see no good reason why it wouldn't all work out just fine.

[little d]

The only reason why I asked the C-section question is because I see alot of older mothers here at work get c/s mostly because of the Doctors are lazy and don't want to wait around for the mom to push and such but I hope that if I do get pregnate that my doctor will be helpful in this area and respect what I want. And then again my husband might just change his mind again. Hes ready hes not ready the man needs to hurry up because I am not getting any younger and I am in the mood right now to get pregnate. I told him that if he changes his mind that he is just getting my hopes up on having another baby and to never talk about having another baby again. Thanks for the support ladies.

donna

[MichelleinMA]

Donna,

I wish you all the best! I rarely visit this site, but it popped up in my google search for gluten-free Donut Recipes today.

You asked about Amnio. There is now a new test that can be done at 12 weeks called an Early Risk Assessment. It is an ultrasound and a blood test. Unless you know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you would not terminate a pregnancy for ANY reason, you may want to consider it. I did not have this test and found out my child had a spina bifida at 17 weeks at a regular standard Ultrasound. I could not have imagined the emotions this caused or that I would actually ever choose to end a pregnancy, but it did happen. If I had had the Early Risk Assessment, I could have known earlier. Although the information would have been just as tragic and may not have chance the outcome, it would have been a less risky procedure and possibly less painful emotionally to let go before I could see and feel that little belly bump.

I was 38 at the time, diagnosed Celiac for 2 years and had 2 basically healthy children age 6 & 4. So, no one considered me high risk, just advanced maternal age. I also had been taking a prenatal vitamin for 6 months. Even now, they assure me this is like being struck by lightning, not caused by Celiac or Advanced Maternal Age. It is difficult to predict who will get hit and no way to tell why my baby was the one in 2000 statistic.

This is not a tale of warning about getting pregnant. This is only to let you know that you have choices other than Amnio! if you want to know about Downs and the other items test for in an AFP blood test.

Also, I had a c-section at 33 with my first child, but had a VBAC with my second at 35 and he weighed-in at 10 pounds 2 onces. If your OB says you must have a c-section, RUN! You can choose to have one. No on knows if you should have one until you are actually giving birth.

Please know that every child is a miracle, but miracles happen every day. I hope you will find yours.

[cyberprof]

Donna, since this won't be your first baby, your age won't be a risk factor. No, you won't need to test for Down's syndrome. First of all, Angie is right, that it is never required. Secondly, the risk is for older women who are having their FIRST pregnancy.

The rest of what you said is correct but this portion is NOT true. Down's syndrome risk is related to maternal age, family history etc., and is the same for each individual woman whether it's her first or 10th baby.

At age 25 the risk for downs is 1/1300 while at 37 it is 1/255. and 1/177 at age 38. Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link However, regardless of the risk, testing is never required, only optional.

Little d, you should talk to your doctor for specifics on genetic diseases and not be scared. Best wishes for a healthy, happy pregnancy.

~Laura

[little d]

Hi Ladies,

I did go to my OB/GYN Friday morning and she said there is no problem for me getting pregnate I will have a 1% chance on having a baby with downs and it increases after I get 40, but I have no intentions on getting pregnate at 40. We did not talk about a C-Section because I am not even pregnate. She also gave me a bunch of pre-natel vitimins for me to try out which I probley won't use because I think that my husband changed his mind courtious of his best friend who started reminding him of what his age would be when our not yet concieved child when he/she graduated high school and college so now I may have just gotten my hopes up on getting pregnate again it is not like I can make him do something because he is much bigger and stronger than me and he can toss me around if he wanted too because I am only 4'11" and 149lbs so I guess I will believe that he is serious when he does what he is suppose to do.

donna