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Are You Having a Geriatric Pregnancy?

by Julie Nealon | December 16, 2018

What is a geriatric pregnancy? When I was pregnant with my daughter, my OB/GYN absolutely floored me when he classified my pregnancy as ‘geriatric’. I was not expecting to hear that word when I was in my prime and expecting my third child. I’ll be honest, it scared me a little at first as I didn’t really know what that meant. Was my pregnancy now considered high risk? Was I officially old at the age of thirty-five? I thought I had a few good years still in me before I had to get a walker and dye my hair purple. My pregnancy was uncomplicated and my daughter was born healthy. The only difference I noticed about being a little older was that I was way more exhausted than my pregnancies in my twenties. Plus I definitely felt more emotionally ready this time around.

A geriatric pregnancy is a pregnancy that occurs when a woman is 35 or older. Doctors also use the term advanced maternal age. With more woman choosing to wait to start a family the rates of women having babies over the age of thirty-five has doubled. Megan Markle and Amy Schumer are two pregnant celebrities of advanced maternal age.

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What Are The Risks?

There is a higher risk of certain complications during pregnancy when a woman is thirty-five or older because women are born with their eggs and they deteriorate over time.

The Risks of Geriatric Pregnancy:

• premature birth
• low birth weight
• stillbirth
• chromosomal defects

• labor complications
• cesarean section
• high blood pressure in the mother, which can lead to preeclampsia gestational diabetes

Does all this mean that you should be afraid to have a baby after you’re thirty-four? Not even slightly. It just means that these risks are slightly higher than before. As long as you take care of yourself, eat a healthy diet, don’t do drugs, drink alcohol or smoke and see your doctor regularly you should be just fine.

Did you have a geriatric pregnancy? Please let us know in the comments.

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