Often, women in developed countries choose to postpone childbearing or attempt to become pregnant one more time during middle age. It is possible to get pregnant and have a healthy baby even at middle age, but usually, more time and effort is required when trying to get pregnant at an older age.
Step 1
Try to get pregnant as soon as possible. The longer you wait, the smaller your chance of getting pregnant will become.
Step 2
Start taking prenatal vitamins. They may increase your chances of remaining pregnant if you successfully reach that point.
Step 3
Buy an ovulation test to find out what is the best time for you to get pregnant. Once the ovulation test tells you that you will ovulate within the next 24 hours, have intercourse daily for the next two to three days. Ideally, the sperm cells need to be in the fallopian tubes during the ovulation because egg cells live for a very short period of time compared to the sperm cells.
Step 4
Ask a doctor to test your progesterone hormone levels if you get pregnant. Frequently, the level of progesterone hormone drop in older women and this hormone is essential in keeping the pregnancy. If your progesterone levels are low, a doctor can give you a prescription to increase your progesterone levels.
Step 5
Don’t try longer than six months to get pregnant if you are over 35 years old, or for longer than a year if you are younger than that. If you do not become pregnant during this time, make an appointment with a gynecologist that specializes in infertility. He will need to take some blood tests during different times of your menstrual cycle to make sure that you are ovulating and that you produce enough of certain hormones.
Step 6
Don’t forget that your partner needs to be tested as well. Your difficulties of getting pregnant may have nothing to do with you. A man’s fertility is easy to test with just a sperm sample.
Step 7
Ask your gynecologist to boost your chances of getting pregnant by giving you some fertility drugs. These medicines may help you produce several egg cells during one cycle. The doctor may also perform an insemination, in which washed sperm is placed inside of your uterus when you are ovulating to increase your changes of getting pregnant.
Step 8
Consider getting IVF, or In Vitro Fertilization, as a fertility treatment if artificial insemination does not work. This methods allows the doctors to fertilize several of your egg cells with your partner's sperm outside of your body and move these fertilized cells back to your uterus after a couple of days if they are developing normally.
Step 9
Think about using another woman’s egg cells. As you age, your egg cells will most likely become the factor that keeps you from becoming pregnant. The quality of these cells drops significantly as you get older. Usually, if a middle-aged woman uses a younger woman’s egg cells, the pregnancy can start and continue into full term without difficulties.
Tips and Warnings
- Should everything else fail, consider adoption. There is a long list of children waiting for loving families and a middle aged couple can usually offer a stable, loving home for them.
- Remember that your risk for many genetic disorders increase as you age. You may choose to have your fetus tested for such conditions as Down syndrome if you get pregnant. Don’t forget that the father’s age may also affect the outcome of the pregnancy. It has been shown that, for example, schizophrenia is more common among the children of older fathers than younger ones.
Things You'll Need
- Ovulation tests
- Contact information for gynecologists specializing in infertility
References
- Human Reproduction:Defining Poor Ovarian Response During IVF Cycles, in Women Aged <40 Years, And its Relationship With Treatment Outcome
- Human Reproduction: Ovulation Induction Combined With Intrauterine Insemination in Women 40 Years of Age And Older
- Open Nursing Journal: A Review of Pregnancy in Women Over 35 Years of Age
- “Current Opinions in Pediatrics”; Hassold T, Hunt P.; Maternal Age and Chromosomally Abnormal Pregnancies: What We Know and What We Wish We Knew; December 2009.
- “Obstetrics and Gynecology” Journal; Increased Infertility With Age in Men and Women; Dunson DB, Baird DD, Colombo B; January 2004.
Member Comments