This week, the news of the model’s third pregnancy Gisele Bundchen 44, as a result of her relationship with her jiu-jitsu instructor Joaquim Valente 35, revived an old debate among internet users: pregnancy after 40 years .
Given the doubts surrounding the subject, the obstetrician gynecologist Rodrigo Rosa a specialist in human reproduction, comments CNN that this increasing number of women becoming pregnant later, follows a series of social reasons, including, for example, the professional advancement and financial stability .
“The average age for the first pregnancy in the country has increased in the last 20 years, according to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and the average age of patients undergoing assisted reproduction treatment is 38 years old”, he says.
The gynecologist Igor Padovesi a specialist in menopause, also adds the advancement of reproductive medicine. “It is important to make it clear that almost all of these cases become pregnant not naturally, but with assisted reproduction techniques, or with their own eggs, or donor eggs”, he states.
According to him, the chance of pregnancy using the traditional method begins to reduce at age 30. “Women begin to lose fertility approximately after 35. This begins to happen significantly every year. Then, from 35 to 40, fertility rates plummet, increasing the risks, especially of a miscarriage”, he guarantees.
Today’s best-known pregnancy treatments
Padovesi says that, in short, in addition to the natural method, there are assisted fertilization being the artificial insemination the best known in the medical industry.
“Artificial insemination is a simpler technique, considered to be of low complexity, in which the woman is prepared during the menstrual cycle, offering medication so that the patient can ovulate more often, and the semen prepared and inseminated, ensuring that fertilization occurs spontaneously. ”, he details.
The process, however, is different from in vitro fertilization which, as the name suggests, is carried out in vitro, in a laboratory. “The process consists of capturing the woman’s eggs, collecting the partner’s semen and carrying out fertilization. And then the embryo is generated in the laboratory, kept in culture until approximately the fourth and fifth day, more or less. Once formed, it is transferred to be implanted in the uterus”, he adds.
The challenges of motherhood after 40 years
As Rodrigo Rosa explains, the biggest challenge in pregnancy after the age of 40 – when talking about spontaneous pregnancy – is the increased risk of chromosomal syndromes which has, as one of the consequences, the chance of a miscarriage in the first trimester.
“So, at age 40, 40% of women will have an abortion in the first trimester. There is also a greater risk of pre-eclampsia, prematurity, gestational diabetes, and the risk of having a baby with Down syndrome,” he says.
Necessary care and alerts
Igor and Rodrigo agree that, among the main care required during this pregnancy, is the more specialized monitoring considering that it is high-risk prenatal care. “It is necessary to be aware of risks such as hypertension, diabetes, fetal growth restriction and risk of prematurity. Everything needs to be monitored more closely, but, in general, the majority of pregnancies at this stage go well, without major problems”, says Padovesi.
Rodrigo also adds weight control, blood pressure control and a diet that is as balanced as possible. “In addition, it is recommended to carry out screening tests to detect fetal malformations and also biological conditions such as thyroid control, blood glucose control and other metabolic controls and always have prenatal care with personalized care”, he concludes.
Geriatric pregnancy or elderly pregnant woman?
In addition to the celebration, many internet users questioned whether, by chance, Gisele’s new pregnancy would fit into the so-called “geriatric pregnancy” or “elderly pregnant woman”. Although completely inappropriate, the terms, according to Igor, concern pregnancies from the age of 35 onwards.
“Today, this is considered completely inappropriate. But, yes, Gisele would fit in, since women, in the past, got pregnant much earlier, and today that scenario has changed. However, the points of attention are the same as for late pregnancy”, he concludes.
This content was originally published in Pregnancy at age 40: understand the care that motherhood requires on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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