What are the potential health risks to both Mom and Baby?

Question

Should a 40 year old lady become pregnant for the first time.

Answer 1

It really depends on the woman, her health condition before becoming pregnant.  This is true no matter what age a woman is when becoming pregnant.

Answer 2

it can be done. look at Nicole kidman!

there are always risks but the risk of down syndrome and mc is a little higher as well as high blood pressure..

if the lady is fit and healthy there should be no reason to worry.. falling pregnant may be a little harder than expected as well..

Answer 3

My mom had a baby when she was 40. Reuben is now 6 years old and very healthy. I was 15 when Reuben was born, so as far as my mom's body was concerned it was as if she was having her first child. The delivery was a little harder than when she was younger (with me), and she put on a healthy amount of weight :P, but other than that everything was normal and we were all so thrilled to have my little brother. :)  

Answer 4

There have been leaps and bounds in reproductive sciences, so it is a lot safter than it used to be!

A few potential risks that I do know of are:

Down syndrome and other chromosomal abnormalities

Multiples

A female has all the eggs she will ever have while she is still just a fetus!  So, by the time one is forty, the eggs are considered aged.  The genetic material inside the egg is more fragile than it was during her 20s.  That can cause the chromsome problems.  Older eggs are also a reason for it to be more common for a woman over 35 to have twins;  The outer membrane of the egg is not as ridgid as it once was, so it is more common for the egg to divide into identical twins.  Fertility treatments are the reason its more common for a woman over 35 to have fraternal twins:  usually during in vitro fertilization, more than one embryo is introuced to the uterus, (hoping that one will stick) and if two implant and make it, you've got fraternal twins!  Multiple pregnancies are considered higher risk than one baby because of the stress to the mother (blood volume, higher risk of gestational diabetes, bigger hormone changesm pressure on the cervix) and also because most twins are born slightly premature.  (I have a friend who had twins at 32 weeks, and they didn't even have to stay in the NICU!)  

If a woman is forty, they will offer to do genetic tests like CVS or amnio.  CVS is done earlier.  It will detect genetic problems like amnio will.  (The cool thing about these tests is that you can tell earlier if you're getting a boy or girl!  They do carry some risk to the pregnancy, though.)

Overall, if a woman actually gets an embryo to implant, I don't think her age plays nearly as huge a roll in the safety and outcome of the pregnancy.

Answer 5

Yeah there can be i've heard. but very small. i'd go for it, how many celebs have been over 40 and had children and been fine. talk to a doctor about all the risks. good luck.