If anyone should know the concerns of choosing pregnancy and childbirth later in life, as an Ob-Gyn physician, having given birth to my first child at 39 yo, I should think I’d be one of them. With my training and experience as an Ob-Gyn physician, I was fully aware of my risks in deciding on childbirth…as a woman of ‘advanced maternal age’. I counsel women on their risks nearly every day.
I already knew that at my age, it may take longer for me to get pregnant. I knew that advancing age is associated with subfertility (prolongation in time to achieve conception,) and I knew this to be related to altered/changing hormonal patterns as we age, leading to suboptimal ovulation. I already knew that there is decreased ovarian reserve (fewer fertilizable eggs remaining in our ovaries) as we age. I also knew that advancing age was associated with a higher risk of miscarriage, most likely related to the poorer quality of aging eggs, and the increased chances of fertilizing an egg containing abnormal chromosomal material...
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Suzanne Hall, MD (@drsuzyyhall)