Pregnancy with the first child after 30 years is not uncommon today. Many women deliberately postpone childbearing for a more favorable time, when their studies are completed, there will be stable work, and housing will appear. However, the first birth after thirty has its own characteristics, and it is better to know about them in advance in order to reasonably weigh all the risks and benefits when dealing with family planning issues.
Late or just right - doctors' opinion
The perception of society and doctors about late childbirth has changed several times. At first, the age of 20-22 years was considered the normal time for the birth of the first child, and 25-year-old girls who came to register for pregnancy for the first time were considered late-bearing.
In the early 90s of the twentieth century, women who decided to have their first child at the age of 27-28 were counted among the elderly. A little later it was believed that childbirth after 30 years is already late childbirth. But life does not stand still, women change their social status, strive to make a career, get a decent education, find a good job, and therefore the dates of birth of the first-born are postponed again. Today, no one will look in surprise at a thirty-year-old woman who is going to give birth to her first child. This is a common situation.
Doctors in Russia consider women who come for their first child after 36 years of age to be late in labor.
The age assessment of the category of women in labor exists "by old memory" only in our country. Nowhere in the world is the division of pregnant women and women in labor into categories by age used anymore, and therefore neither women who become pregnant for the first time at 37-38 years old, nor those who come to the clinic for their first child at 41-42 years old are considered late.
Nevertheless, doctors all over the world admit that pregnancy and childbirth do acquire their own characteristics with age. But these features are associated not so much with the age of the woman in labor, but with those problems and changes in the body that she acquired over the years, because after 30 years, some chronic extragenital and gynecological diseases are often revealed for the first time.
However, after 30 years, the risks are significantly lower than after 40 years. And in most cases, pregnancy goes well and ends with the birth of a healthy and beautiful baby to the delight of mom and dad.
Is it dangerous to give birth after 30 years, you can answer only in each specific case, knowing the exact history of the woman, her living conditions, social and living conditions, genetic characteristics and predisposition.
Potential dangers and risks
The calendar age of a pregnant woman and a woman in labor decides little in terms of assessing possible risks. Of greater importance is the conditions in which she lives, what is her lifestyle, whether there are bad habits, chronic diseases. Often, it is after the age of 30 that chronic diseases that previously "dozed off" become aggravated for the first time. And it is pregnancy that can act as a provoking factor, since bearing a fetus is hard work for all organs and systems of the female body.
The only aspect that has some bearing on age concerns the estimated baseline risks of having a baby with chromosomal abnormalities. For example, the most common Down syndrome in the world (trisomy 21) may be due to age. A woman at 25 years of age has a probability of giving birth to a baby with such a diagnosis is no more than 1: 1500. And at 30, the risk increases and, according to medical statistics, is already 1: 1000. At 34, a woman's risks of giving birth to a "sunny" baby are estimated at 1: 350. At 35–36 years, the baseline risk is even higher - 1: 214. After 40 years, the risks are quite high: 1: 19 at 40 years old and 1: 14 at 43 years old.
Somewhat increased after 30 years and the risk of giving birth to a baby with Edwards, Turner syndromes. This is due to the fact that the supply of female eggs is depleted over time, and the quality of the genetic material that is embedded in the reproductive cells of men and women deteriorates under the influence of the environmental situation and bad habits.
This somewhat complicates the conception itself, and also increases the likelihood of "incorrect, mistaken" fusion of the sperm and the oocyte, as a result of which one of the trisomies or other incurable chromosomal abnormalities will occur, which for the most part make a full life impossible, and also lead to early death.
A woman's obstetric history is very important in predicting the nature of pregnancy and childbirth. Thirty or forty years is the age at which a woman usually already has one or more abortions in her personal obstetric history, has previous inflammatory diseases of the reproductive system, menstrual irregularities, the woman used hormonal drugs for contraception. All this, one way or another, can affect not only the characteristics of bearing a fetus, but also the nature of the course of labor.
The likelihood of conceiving twins after 30 years increases slightly, but not as much as after 40 years.
Quite often, women worry that due to their age, they will definitely have a cesarean section. Among the indications provided by the Ministry of Health for this operation, the age of the woman in labor is not separately listed. But other indications may arise that develop against the background of age and other factors.
Doctors believe that childbirth after 37 years is safer and wiser to carry out precisely through a cesarean section, especially if there are aggravating factors. Clinical recommendations of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation indicate such a possibility with the consent of the woman in labor and the presence of concomitant pathologies in her, which can pose a danger to her life and the life of the baby during natural childbirth.
If the pregnancy is going well, then a woman after thirty is usually allowed to give birth on her own, and childbirth, although with some features, most often goes quite well.
The birth process itself after 35-36 years can be complicated by the likelihood of premature placental abruption, as well as premature outpouring of water. Both of these factors greatly complicate childbirth. With detachment, an emergency cesarean section is performed immediately. With the passage of waters, physiological labor can be allowed or stimulated.
In childbirth, primiparas over the age of 35 more often suffer from ruptures of the cervix, perineum, they are more likely to undergo an episiotomy (dissection of the perineum in order to avoid its spontaneous rupture). Higher risks of bleeding. Due to the fact that muscle tissue is not as "young" as in twenty-year-olds, postpartum complications occur more often, for example, the uterus contracts worse after childbirth.
The onset of labor can also be abnormal. In older women in labor, weakness of labor forces is more often recorded, especially if the birth is first. The situation may require an emergency caesarean section in the absence of the effect of stimulation of labor with medications.
For the sake of fairness, it should be noted that all the listed risks are not encountered so often in practice. Yes, a woman who, in her thirties, decided to give birth to her first child, should know about possible complications, but there is no reason to be afraid and refuse the prospect of becoming a mother. Most of the listed risks are also present in young women in labor, and this does not in the least prevent them or women "over 30 and 35" from giving birth to healthy, long-awaited and beloved sons and daughters.
To give birth to a healthy baby, you need to be aware of the risks and do everything that the attending physician requires to minimize them.
Benefits
Pregnancy after 30 years is usually not accidental, unplanned. A woman is at an age when she is well aware of the intricacies of contraception and has an impressive experience of sexual activity. After 30, 35 years, women who have finally “matured” to motherhood and conceived the desired child usually come to consult with eyes shining with delight. Even if a pregnant woman does not have a husband and a permanent sexual partner, pregnancy at this age less often causes the desire to get rid of the baby, to have an abortion, even if it was not planned.
Gynecological hospitals where termination of pregnancy is carried out more often accept girls under 30 years of age, pregnant for the first time, to terminate a pregnancy of their own accord, than women who first become pregnant at the age of 30 and older.
The fact that the baby is still desirable, and the decision to become a mother is conscious, changes a lot. Women are calmer in the process of carrying a child. They are not worried about the fact that they have nowhere to live, there is no money, because by this age they already have a job, some kind of housing, they have received an education. Women who are aware that there are certain age-related risks are more sensitive to the recommendations of doctors, they strictly observe them and attend all scheduled appointments in consultations, are responsible for taking tests and prenatal screenings.
Psychologically, women are more mature, and therefore they prepare for childbirth in detail: they attend courses for expectant mothers, master breathing techniques, and learn the intricacies of caring for newborns.
At this age, by the way, according to statistics, postnatal (postpartum) depression develops less often. Young women in labor, as well as women after 40 years of age, are more often at risk for its occurrence.
First-borns born by a mother after 30 years are surrounded by attention, care and love. They are given more time. Children bring to the life of a thirty-year-old woman a new, previously unknown feeling of happiness, self-realization in the field of motherhood.
Child psychologists argue that as a result, the relationship between parents and a child is formed more trusting and warm, if the parents at the time of the birth of the crumbs are more than thirty years old.
How are they?
The very course of natural childbirth at this age is not much different from childbirth at any other age.
But a woman who gives birth for the first time after thirty should remember that all stages of labor can last longer. Contractions usually last up to 10-12 hours in primiparas at this age, and cervical dilatation is slower. Attempts take up to an hour, the birth of the placenta - up to 40 minutes.
Much during labor will depend on the presence or absence of complications.
Reviews
Women who gave birth for the first time after 30 years, claim that even if the pregnancy and childbirth proceeded well, health is usually disrupted after them: the condition of the hair and teeth deteriorates, chronic ailments appear, which the newly-made mother did not even know about before.
Most write on thematic forums that pregnancy did not come from the first attempt, there were problems during planning, it took a long time to conceive a baby. But most of them report that childbirth proceeded normally, and the children were born healthy and on time.
Often women describe that because of their age they had to take tests more often, since doctors were "reinsured", but no one regrets that they decided to give birth after thirty.
For more information on the first birth after 30 years, see the next video.
