Mothering Forum banner

40+and pregnant

4K views 34 replies 16 participants last post by  tug 
#1 ·
Okay we are in the High Risk Group. But I choose to risk it. Anyone else out there with me or been there and all went well or did it? I just would love support from some older mamas. Thanks.
 
#27 ·
Hi.. I'm 39 and pg with #3.. due in Dec. When I saw the ob at my 16 week visit.. he asked me when I would turn 40. When I told him april he said"oh, ok.. then then we go with the statistics for a 39 yr old...." LIke if I turned 40 in, say, Dec.. then the statistics would change.

This made me realize that these risk calculations mean so little. I refused the afp and amnio.. just had a regular old u/s yesterday. (its a boy!!!!!!).

I don't feel much different this time around.. although I was really tired the 1st trimester... but right now feel really good. Although I'm 20 weeks right now.. so now longer tired out, but not yet huge and uncomfortable.
I met a woman the other day (who's 80 something.. she said she had her last son when she was 47. I love hearing that).

I keep reminding myself that I trust my body... I trust my body.. I trut my body...
 
#28 ·
At my prenatal last Wednesday, my blood pressure was up, but on my side it went down, so they put me on modified bedrest, which means lay on my side 2 hours twice during the day. They drew blood to check my liver and stuff which the results came back as good. I also had a non-stress test which went well but I had a 105 minute visit that was to be 25 minutes. And they were worried about the size of the baby and how maybe a VBAC will be too risky if the baby is large. Again Charlie weighed 9.15.

At at my prenatal Wednesday, my blood pressure was higher again so my bedrest was increased to two hours on my side, one hour up, two hours down again, etc. The ultrasound showed the baby is head down but they are somewhat concerned about the placenta degrading some and lack of fetal movement and tone. The lack of movement was bizarre for me cuz I feel lots of movement. But they felt another non-stress test was needed. And a 1 hour appointment turned into three and I was so hungry so maybe that is why baby was not moving. They were not confident with the results, so I am having another ultrasound today at the perinatal clinic to be monitored and most likely another non-stress on Monday.

They also encouraged me to schedule a c-section for later if I go past forty weeks, which I could pick any date, so I picked August 14 which was my favorite Uncle Tom's birthday.

The fun news......looks like I will be having a 8.4 pound baby and the tech knows the sex so if I decide to call, I can.

and then yesterday, Charlie slept till 11:20 and we had a relaxing morning. I went to Imago to drop stuff off and then came home and relaxed more before meeting three new Metro August preggie mamas and doulasarah. After a fun dinner, we decided to walk down to Edina Creamery to get ice cream before heading to the collective.

Anyway while walking, I twisted my ankle in a decorative tree thing, don't even know what it was. Anyway I fell flat on the sidewalk, knees first, then hands and then my tummy which bounced on the sidewalk. Geez....

Three firemen were parked right there, saw it happen and came to the rescue, first took my blood pressure, 200/110 and then they called an ambulance and then wanted me to stand up. I was like I don't want to go in an ambulance and I don't want to stand right now. Meanwhile Mpls Momma was like can she have some breathing room as I had three firefighters hovering over me. DoulaSarah asked them for a blanket so I could lie down on my side which brought my blood pressure down to like 160/97 and called my midwifes who said that I should go to Fairview to get checked out. So anyway......we spent two hours at the hospital on monitors and everything seems okay.
 
#29 ·
Sorry to hear about your fall. Hope you are already feeling over it completely.

I was almost 37 when first ds was born this past jan., my sis was almost 39 when her first ds was born in may (our mom was 39 and 41 when she had us back in the 60s). I totally agree with emmaline (from March) that the risks are just different.

This isn't really relevant for you any more, but just as a pregnancy over 35 or 40 sort of thing -- I had chorionic villi sampling and the triple screen. Because i work with the elderly and disabled and public benefits type stuff, i figured i would rather know if there were special needs issues so i could start planning of some sort. my sis had the amnio. one problem with the cvs (which i generally preferred b/c they're done earlier and are less invasive than amnio and safer when done by md experienced in 'em) was that my crappy insurance refused to pay for it. my sis had an amnio.

by the way, did everybody else constantly get referred to as elderly prima or multi gravida? uck!!! stupid terminology. i had a friend who was pregnant fifteen years ago and she is about 5 ft 2 and she said they referred to her as "elderly dwarf primagravida." how demeaning/ugly/cruel our medical terminology is. why not courageous energetic petite angel carrier? sounds much better to me.


tug
 
#30 ·
I'll be 39 in August and my (first) baby is due any day now (currently at 40w5d and counting).

I just got together with my partner last year and we started trying to conceive right away (it worked like a charm) because I worried about age-related fertility issues. I'm not sure if I will want to have another child because pregnancy has been so hard for me - we are considering adopting later. But this thread has given me the comfort that it could indeed be possible, and that "the childbearing years" don't necessarily end at 40. It's incredible how much I internalized the slew of infertility articles that seemed to hit the press last year and the year before. I just assumed it would be impossible for me to conceive at age 38.

I mean, my mother had me at 41, but I am pretty certain right now that if I do decide to get pregnant again, it won't be for at 4-5 years. I don't think I'm cut out to be the mother of a toddler and an infant at the same time. I couldn't possibly have had children earlier - I was never settled down, was moving around the world, going to school, and of course not together with my partner - but I *have* found it hard to adjust to this new phase in life. I guess I am set in my childless ways. I do wonder if it wouldn't be easier if I were still, say, 30 or 32. It scares me to think of caring for two young children when I am 40 or thereabouts. Sometimes it seems I barely have the energy to take care of myself.

I imagine I will feel different about many things within the next couple of days, once my son is in the world.
 
#31 ·
DH and I talked and I did a lot of research with ICAN and Dr. Brewer (www.blueribbon.org) I even talked to him on the phone and then Friday DH went in with me and we cancelled my c-section for today and rescheduled it for this Fridaywhich will make me 42 weeks. All my test including the non stress were great on Friday. I think my bp was 162/92.

I so want to VBAC and am bummed I am so overdue. And then MIL came by yesterday and said, "I don't think you will go into labor cuz you have been on bedrest for so long." Thanks MIL!!! You are so sweet.
 
#32 ·
Kathy-jo:

You will do great no matter how it happens and do not worry. There are many, many people who get a date scheduled who then go into labor. Think about how many you probably know (I know a bunch, including a close friend and my sister!). But also know that no matter which way the little one comes into the world, it will be okay.

Just relax, relax, relax. Enjoy your bed rest while you can


tug
 
#34 ·
Thanks all. I called my midwife that Thursday morning and she said, "Kathy why don't you come in and we will check you out and if your cervix is favorable we can try a trial of labor with pitocin and if that does not work then you can have the surgery tomorrow.

So we called Grandpa Peterson who would be with Charlie until that evening when Corrine would come and spend the night with him. We spent some time with Charlie, packed up and went off to the hospital. Our doula Carrie met us there. My cervix was ripe enough so we were given the go ahead but my blood pressure was up a bit more so I was put on a magnesium drip shortly after our arrival. This makes you very hot and really hurt going in through the IV. It also limits movement during labor and actually is used to slow down labor for moms not full term. So before too long I was put on something used to speed up labor, pitocin and something to slow down labor, magnesium. About ½ way into labor, my blood pressure was not coming down enough so they increased the magnesium. Other than that, it was really a calm beautiful night and Jerry and Carrie were wonderful. A few hours into the labor, I started to have some bloody show which is a sign of your cervix thinning so we were feeling excited. A few hours later I felt discouraged and I had been on 12 hours of pitocin. I knew before I was checked that I had not advanced much. The midwife said that she was willing to do 3 more hours of pitocin but did not think we could go much more than that. After she left the room, I told Carrie to tell the midwife that I wanted them to turn the Pitocin off. And we started to be prepare for surgery. We called some family members and things moved quite fast.

It all seemed to go much more smoothly than the surgery with Charlie, including the spinal. When Charlie was born, we had in our birth plan that Jerry would announce the gender so at that exciting moment, theOBasked Jerry to stand up. Jerry stood and said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I am proud to announce the birth of my baby boy, Charles Andrew Peterson and then he broke down in tears. So on Friday we once again made it clear that we wanted Jerry to announce gender. TheOBgave him the cue and Jerry said, "It's a girl, right?" And theOBsaid, "It appears to be." And the anesthesiologist said, "And that it is."

Angelyn Rosemarie Peterson was born Friday August 22nd at9:28 a.m.weighing 9 pounds 13 ounces and 20 inches long. (I was born at9:28 a.m.onMay 20, 1962. Pretty sweet that we were born at the same time.) The trial of labor was valuable as Angelyn's apgar scores were 9 and 9 (same as Charlie's) at birth. Even though Charlie was c-section, my water broke with him and it is said that a trial of labor even for awhile can help babies lungs and apgar scores once born. I feel I made all the right choices during the last few weeks. I not think I should have waited any longer for baby to arrive or do not think we waited too long. Angelyn is beautiful and is in no way overcooked.

http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/kaj...c=ph%26.view=l
 
#35 ·
She is adorable!! It sounds like you did exactly the right thing for you and Angel. Congratulations. I had been waiting to hear what happened (I"m sure everybody who looked at this thread joins me in that sentiment) and I'm so happy to hear it all went well and to see how beautiful your new baby girl is.

Yeah!!

tug

p.s. - so this is your 41st child then, right? ho ho ho
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top