Am I too old

[Roughquest]

Thinking of trying for a baby...but as im late 30s, what are my chances ? Can I ask the doctor for certain tests to check my hormone levels and can they test if im ovulating or not ?

[NiceCupOfTea]

No, you're not too old. Good luck! You can certainly get both of the tests you mention off the doctor. Ovulation tests are also available at chemists, but I've never used one so I can't say a great deal about them.

[mallam]

If you�re in your late 30s, the medics call you an �elderly prima gravida�. Tell them where they get off! My wife had a natural pregnancy at 40 and a friend at 44. And you can�t have missed all the UNnatural pregnancies of the indisputably elderly!

[obNOXious]

My ex wife is now 40 and in the last 2 years has had 2 sets of twins as well as our last daughter together whose three this month, all naturally, so yes you're fine, go ahead and try for your baby..... she does look a bit knackered though:)

[Roughquest]

There is hope...thank you for your comments...just all my friends are younger than me and im a late starter lol. Daunting that it is....and scary too.

[tamborine]

make sure your stud isn't 'as sterile as a baseball bat' ;)

[shaking]

Go for it, if you don't you will feel you have missed out. It might not happen as with me, good luck.

[ummmm]

RQ....how are you???

Long time no speak....

Yes you can...stamp your feet if not....!!!

[mallam]

Sorry, shako, that puts me in my place over the thread we've just been crossing swords on!

And roughstuff, don't be daunted or scared, tho I was. I am not going to come over all trite and say better late than never - I am going to come over all original and say better late than EVER!

[shaking]

Not crossing swords Mallam, just a question of views.

[chinadog]

I was 32 and 35 when I had my youngest two and we had'nt even tried.arrgghhh. Im sure you'll be fine RQ,good luck.

[lil123]

I had my son at 35 after a 16 year age gap between my last baby.
I missed 2 pills and got pregnant by accident.
If your fit and well their shouldn't be too much of a problem

[sqad617]

Your chances?

Reduced....takes longer to conceive because the quality of you eggs are reduced in your 30s.

Bottom Line?

Read all the success posts above.

[gossipgirl]

go for it !!!!!!!!!!!! there is no reason your age should make it difficult to get pregnant, my nan had a baby at 53! However your doctor should make you aware that there is a slightly increased chance of having a baby with downs syndrome etc, but dont let this put you off as millions of women go on to have very happy healthy babies. sending good luck your way

[sqad617]

gossipgirl is correct............the "elderly primip" has certain negatives that you GP will put to you.

The other point is......Do you wnat a baby?..stupid question eh?.NOT having children has distinct advantages.

[redcrx]

thats not too old.

Re: the risk of downs, i would suggest that if your hospital doesnt offer a nuchal scan (not all do it at 12 week scan) then for a cost of about �170 you can have a private scan and bloods taken which give a much more accurate figure for the risk. By age at 35 i think my chance of a downs baby were 1 in 250, by taking bloods and doing scan and combing the results it reduced to 1 in 4000 or something.

i found the cost was worth it for the peace of mind.

[Velvetee]

I'm 39 and will be 40 when my first baby is born in June. I thought I'd need fertility treatment to ever get pregnant, as I have PCOS, but it just happened unexpectedly.

[mallam]

Hlo again,sqad. Further evidence we can communicate better than some on this godforsaken site (always supposing you meant to include mine among the "success posts".)

Do check out my earlier attempt at communciation in gratitiude for your sympathetic response to my posts re the rough-and-tumble of diagnostic medicine on the ''breathing probs' thread:
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Body-and-Soul/Q uestion720953.html

Now perhaps we can communicate about your in-jargonistic "primip". Can you explain the etymology of it? To me it sounds suspiciously as if it might be a bit unPC, like a portmanteau word bundling up the 'prim' of 'prima gravida' and the 'ip' of 'gossip' or perhaps 'turnip-head'. (Not strictly etymologically speaking, obviously, as the former is a sib and the latter a neep!)

[sqad617]

mallam....spot on....primip....short for primigravida (pregnant)

[mallam]

No, sqad, it is of course you who are spot on. I wasn't quite. I was using the commoner (and prob less medical) expression 'prima gravida' or 'primagravida' (total of 63,690 hits on Google vs 58,000 for 'primigravida').

If indeed it is 'less medical', that is no doubt because it�s wrong! Obviously I am not as medical as I thought. I don't think I had seen 'primigravida' before, or if I had, I hadnt noticed the difference, though with my eagle eyes that is unlikely. (The eyes are getting ever less aquiline, however, as I complained here , incurring an extraordinary attack, followed by wranglings which may amuse you.)

It�s wrong because it means �first pregnant woman� rather than �woman pregnant for the first time�, for God�s sake. How can it be so common, even outside medical literature? Because people like me use it without thinking, is why. What a disgrace! And me a trained classicist. 'Primigravida' is of course parallel to and analogous with �primipara�, and actually synonymous with it, or as nearly so as it�s possible to get without going into maths or something!

Now that you have (so unobtrusively, as opposed to the farrago I have linked to above) put me right, I shall of course follow your lead and use the spelling with i. Moreover I shall no doubt be seeing it now that I have noticed it.

But you still don�t explain the �p of �primip�. Playful elaboration I suppose. Self-explanatory, really!

[kempie]

...Indeed, there is nothing more amusing than the volte-face exhibited when a person deliberately seeks to elevate themself above other users of a website by posting in a fashion so as to render them unintelligible to hoi polloi but then must resort to plain English and sycophancy when seeking the support of the snubbed.