Today advanced maternal age pregnancies are becoming more and more common. This how women over the age of 35 who become pregnant today are classified. When a woman does have a pregnancy after 40, she needs to be aware that there are certain risks involved. This includes women who undergo tubal ligation reversal in order to have a child after 40. Although statistics for such women show a 41% pregnancy success rate according to one tubal surgeon who compiles statistics, a woman over 40 wanting a child needs to understand there are risks associated with such a pregnancy. This is why these are usually called high risk pregnancies. We quickly cover these risks below.There are basically two areas of risk that attends a pregnancy after 40. One is the risk of problems for the child usually caused by genetic abnormalities. You have a higher risk of this with a pregnancy later in life. You are also at a greater risk as you get older of suffering from pregnancy complications both during the pregnancy and when the child is born.To begin with, there is a higher chance of any children of women who conceive after 40 being born with a genetic abnormality. The most common of abnormality is Down Syndrome. Any woman who has a pregnancy after 40 years of age faces the chances 1 in 42 of her child being born with Down’s Syndrome. Luckily there are tests that your doctor can carry out including an amniocentesis. This test enables the doctor to determine whether the child is going to be born with such a genetic abnormality or not. However, if you choose to have an amniocentesis test you need to understand that there is a risk of losing the unborn child. The chances of it happening are 1 in 200. Any woman considering having this test should carefully weigh the benefits and negatives associated with it.When a woman does have a pregnancy after 40, there are other health problems that she may find herself having to deal with. One major one is that fertility levels are lower in older women. So even if you have a tubal ligation reversal after 40, you still have the additional question of your fertility level.Other health problems you may face include preterm labor, developing diabetes or high blood pressure. There is also an increased chance of her having a preeclampsia pregnancy which could even lead to eclampsia. However, it isn’t age alone that may be a cause of these health problems. There are other factors that can be causing them.An unhealthy lifestyle of smoking, obesity and other factors put younger women at as much risk as older women of developing some of the health issues we mention above. Yet as the chances of developing these health problems does seem to be greater in older women when they have a pregnancy after 40, each woman’s doctor and other health professional will monitor the pregnancy more closely.This is especially true for a woman’s pregnancy after 40 where she has had tubal ligation reversal. To begin with before the tubal ligation reversal, to increase your chances for becoming pregnant, be sure to use a surgeon who has the lots of experience at carrying out tubal reversals such as Dr. Gary Berger or Dr. Charles Monteith. Using a well qualified tubal surgeon will not only increase your chances of conceiving a child naturally but following his protocols when you do become pregnant will help to reduce the chances of developing some of the medical problems we discussed above.
Tags: Amniocentesis, Pregnancy after 40, Pregnancy Risks, Tubal Ligation Reversal, Tubal Surgeon
