According to my Google searches, advanced maternal age, or AMA, has referred to pregnancy in women age 35 and older, since at least the 1950s. Only 2.6% of pregnancies in the US happen from women in their 40s.
Well, I’m 42 and pregnant, so I’m definitely in that AMA category. Not only that, I’m pregnant naturally after infertility!
Our history
I am 42. I’ve worked at home since having our daughter through invitro almost 5 years ago. After her, we did another round and had our son 3 years ago. We were done. Honestly, I didn’t want to be done, but again, I’m in my 40’s and my husband, while he’s a little younger, just didn’t want to do it again.
We’re getting to a place where the kids can do things for themselves. It’s starting to get easier to do activities with them. The thought of another round of sleepless nights and 3 more years of diapers, well, it makes my husband cringe. I, thankfully, don’t think of that stuff!!
We didn’t think it could happen
Technically, I knew it was possible but didn’t think it was probable. I’ve heard stories that once you have a baby, your body knows what to do. But before we had our daughter, we had an ectopic pregnancy and I had a fallopian tube removed. The odds of someone with a history of infertility, combined with my “advanced maternal age” and only 1 fallopian tube, the odds just seemed to be so miniscule.
I told my husband: I still want to try. The act of trying made me happy. Not the intercourse part itself, but just the thought that we’re doing want God intended.
Even after an oops pregnancy last year, we still didn’t believe it could happen. I unexpectedly became pregnant last March, which ended in a miscarriage before we even saw a heartbeat. At my age, that’s the norm. And it would likely be the same if it happened again. According to this Baby Center article, the odds of getting pregnant at 42 are about 25%. The odds of miscarriage at this age are also pretty high, at 25%. The odds just kept stacking against us.
Positive pregnancy test
On Sunday, January 13th, 2019, I woke up bright and early, seriously, like 4am, to use the bathroom. I remembered that you’re supposed to test with first-morning urine so your hormones are the strongest. So I did the test right then. To my amazement, it was positive immediately. Needless to say, I laid in bed wide awake. I wanted this, but how would I tell my husband? I’ll save that for another post!
15 weeks with a strong heartbeat
I am beyond excited about this! I waited to write about my pregnancy for several reasons. One, a little bit of superstition. That’s horrible because I truly believe in God and all his wonder, so superstition shouldn’t even be a thought, but it’s hard not to think that way! But I wanted to wait until it was “real”, meaning a heartbeat and a baby bump.
Well, it’s real! Not only that, because of my AMA, I have already had 2 rounds of testing for abnormalities like Down Syndrom and other chromosomal problems. Both tests were good, so I’m feeling confident. One test was called Infomaseq. I highly recommend doing this if it’s offered. It was just a simple blood test.
Another reason I waited to write about it is that I was soooooo sick during the first trimester! It was all I could do to maintain and watch my littles. I was only able to do a fraction of my normal workload. It was rough, to say the least!
I don’t want to forget anything about my pregnancy!
I regularly tell my husband about how I’m feeling. It’s had to hide it! Every time I tell him something, he says it was the same with the other pregnancies. I hate that I can’t remember it!
I found myself, just last night, thinking how much I love being pregnant. That I remembered, but why? I love my little belly popping out! I love all of the extra emotion I feel, even watching commercials! I’m so touched by everything. I’m so aware of everything.
I went to church with my parents last weekend when they visited. We sat quite a ways back, definitely in the back half of the church. When it was time for communion, all of the helpers went up front and each took a turn to get a pump of hand sanitizer. I watched as each one wiped their hands like they were scrubbing in for surgery. I thought it was nice that we can all see that so we know they all have clean hands! But then it hit me – I could smell it! I could smell the hand sanitizer all the way in the back of the church! The acute senses just amaze me!
Fetal heartbeat
I have a fetal heartbeat monitor (like this one – and I suggest you get a tube of gel because they give you such a small one. While you’re at it, get Amazon Prime if you don’t have it. There are several other things you’ll want to get throughout your pregnancy!) that I got when I was pregnant with our daughter. I didn’t even know they existed and a co-worker told me about it.
I listened to our daughter’s heartbeat almost nightly. With our son, he moved constantly and I only felt compelled to listen a couple times.
I pulled that out a couple days ago and gave it a listen. I’m right at the cusp of when it will work, so I was a little hesitant to try it. But there it was, woosh, woosh, woosh, woosh. Music to my ears!
Now what
I’m slowing getting back up to speed with my clients. I’m not napping every day. Somedays, but not every day! I’m not as nauseous as I was in the beginning. Phew – for all of these things!
I have my 16-week heartbeat check next week. Yay!
Thanks for reading along with my journey!
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