When I got pregnant with my first baby at age 35, I joined the elite Advanced Maternal Age (AMA) club. Finally, I’m advanced! I’ve always wanted to be advanced, ahead of my peers in some way, though unfortunately this kind of advanced isn’t exactly seen as a positive. But life happens and pregnancy at 35, childbirth at 36 was just what worked out for me! And if life hadn’t taken those turns, I wouldn’t have my amazing Vivian! ❤
When I was in my late 20s/early 30s with no prospects and nine bridesmaid dresses in my closet, I thought becoming a mom was probably not in the cards for me. But by some magical stroke of luck (and Tinder) I met my husband when I was 33 and got married at 34. There was totally still time to have some babies! It was pretty early on in our relationship that I told him that, once we got married, we didn’t have any time to waste having kids due to my age. I knew that the older the woman is, the longer it could take to conceive, so the clock was ticking! Fortunately we were able to get pregnant in about 6 months which, while it was definitely stressful, was thankfully a relatively short amount of time!
Although AMA comes with different risks than pregnancies at earlier ages, being 35+ does not automatically mean you are doomed. The only thing taken into account to admit you to the AMA club is age – NOT current/previous health, diet, exercise, or family history. Luckily for me, my age was my only risk factor. I still took the overall AMA risks seriously, but I felt fairly confident I would be able to have a healthy pregnancy regardless of my age.
I’m no pregnancy expert, but based on conversations with friends who were younger during pregnancy, there were several things about my appointments that were a bit different because of my advanced age. So if you’re curious about what to expect or what AMA pregnancy appointments are like then keep on reading!
Things you can expect from your AMA prenatal appointments:
- You will probably hear “Due to your advanced maternal age…” at minimum once per appointment. I realize that my nurses and doctors weren’t being rude by saying this, but I also felt like I didn’t need to be reminded each and every appointment… I will say that I did prefer to be labeled as advanced maternal age instead of geriatric!
- With AMA there’s a greater chance of chromosomal abnormalities, so genetic testing might be more encouraged (and more likely to be covered by insurance). I know that genetic testing can be a touchy subject, but when discussing it with my doctor, she reminded me that doing the testing doesn’t mean you would have to terminate the pregnancy if something was found, just that it would enable you to be prepared for whatever is coming your way. It seems perfectly normal to have an idea in your head about your birth experience and baby, and a surprise chromosomal abnormality can be more difficult to deal with in the moment. I appreciated her pointing this out because I did want to be able to make sure that I and my husband were as prepared as we could be for entering the world of parenthood.
- Most likely you will have several nonstress test appointments toward the end of your pregnancy. These appointments are to evaluate the baby’s health as you get closer to the birth and involve getting two monitors put on your belly to monitor the baby’s heart rate and movement. My nonstress test appointments lasted about 30 minutes, with 20 minutes to monitor the baby and then an update from the doctor/nurse.
- Something I was not expecting was being encouraged to get induced during my 39th week of pregnancy. I assumed that since my pregnancy had gone smoothly I would just go into labor naturally at some point. Toward the end of my pregnancy, the doctors started talking to me about the risks for women over 35 when they go past 39 weeks – the biggest concern being stillbirth. My doctors explained that nothing good happens after 39 weeks in pregnancy since the baby is considered full term by that point. Due to the risks and the fact that having a set induction date was making me less nervous about when I might randomly go into labor, we scheduled an induction for my 39th week of pregnancy. Luckily, when we arrived at the hospital on induction day, I was already about 3 centimeters dilated, so baby Viv was all ready to come out! But that’s a story for another day! 🙂
This list isn’t exhaustive, and every pregnancy is different, but I hope that those few tidbits from my experience were informative and helpful to others. AMA comes with risks, but, in my case, I still had a positive pregnancy and birth experience all while being “geriatric”! Plus upon Googling being an older parent, I found several pieces of research sharing the benefits! Among other things, older parents are often better prepared for the responsibility of being a parent, often more emotionally stable, and more financially secure. And I saved the best news for last, in a study published in the journal Menopause, it has also been found that women who have children after age 33 were twice as likely to live to age 95 compared to women who had their last child before age 29. More time to enjoy those beautiful children and future grandchildren!
When it comes down to it, I’m proud to be a member of the AMA Club. I wouldn’t want to change anything about the course my life has taken and now I can’t imagine my life without Vivian.
❤ It’s all worth it no matter what age you choose to become a mother ❤
The Redhead Review 