According to doctors, you need to give birth from 19 to 26 years old. But psychologically, a woman matures to be ready to become a mother by about 32 years old.
In the Middle Ages, the age after which a woman was considered "old-bearing" was limited to twenty years. It was believed that later she was already old for pregnancy. Over time, the scope of childbearing has changed. For example, Soviet girls pushed this border back to 25 years.
Today, more and more often the age of giving birth to the first child is approaching thirty years. And Perm is no exception. According to experts, this may well be considered a new phenomenon of our time. But how late childbirth can affect not only the health of the expectant mother herself, but also society as a whole?
Childish passions
Three higher educations, the world at a glance, a lot of hobbies - Natalya Fayarshina was sure that this is real happiness. The position of a lawyer in a large company, expensive apartment, car …
“Like many of my friends, I was so career-oriented that everything else just didn't exist. As a result, I'm thirty-something, but there is no one to live for! - says Natalia.
Fortunately, everything worked out. A year after the wedding, the couple found out that they were expecting a son. The expectant mother was then 33. Pregnancy was quite easy, but for doctors, age became an indication for cesarean section.
“The term“old-born”then seemed to stick to me, - recalls Natalya. - I remember that the nurse in the hospital kept mumbling: “They took the fashion for old age to give birth. Are you going to educate in retirement?"
With the second child, they decided not to delay. Like many peers who decided to continue the family after 35 years, additional genetic studies were prescribed. And, like a bolt from the blue, the doctors' verdict: increased risk of having a baby with Down syndrome. The Aesculapians insisted on abortion. "Never!" - the couple decided. A healthy daughter was born.
Lost in translation
Late pregnancy, as in the case of Natalia, almost automatically classifies patients as a risk group. Statistics show that most of the children with Down syndrome were brought into the world by older mothers. Perhaps this is one of the reasons that the term "old-born" evokes such a range of negative emotions. In recent years, by the way, it has been replaced by the more correct “age primiparous”. It is used in relation to ladies who first decided on a baby after 35. However, such difficulties of translation against the background of the recently appeared definition of representatives of the ancient profession as a “woman with low social responsibility” are considered by many to be unacceptable and require even more loyal reading. But it’s not even a matter of terminology. According to gynecologists, it is mature mothers-to-be who are one of the most disciplined patients, and their chances of giving birth to healthy offspring are very high.
“As a doctor, I am always in favor of women giving birth. At any age. Thanks to modern medicine, today you can maintain your reproductive health for as long as possible. Therefore, the number of women in labor after 35-40 years has really increased, - says the obstetrician-gynecologist of the highest category Natalya Golykh. - At the same time, I want to note that growth is observed among women following the second, third child. It is not yet necessary to say that in recent years there has been a noticeable jump in the appearance of late first-borns, although the age is shifting towards increasing. The reasons for late childbirth lie not only in social aspects, when at first a woman prefers to build a career. There are others. For example, long-term infertility treatment. The procedure of in vitro fertilization (IVF) is now quite widespread, which is most often used by mature women."
At the same time, the health state of the expectant mother becomes the determining factor at any age. There are risks in late pregnancy, but with the help of modern diagnostic methods, all of them are detected at an early stage. Mature ladies are much more responsible for the preliminary step - planning pregnancy, undergo examinations and solve health problems in advance, if any, replenish the body with vitamins and minerals, change their lifestyle, etc. And this, in turn, suggests a more successful course pregnancy.
The last carriage?
Yet it cannot be denied that today's youth are increasingly striving for the Western model of family and child planning. Conservative parental "and the clock is ticking!" does not prevent young people from striving first to get on their feet financially, and only then to acquire offspring.
“My husband and I plan to become parents by the age of 28-29. Until that time, get an education, get a good job, travel around the world, live for yourself, - says 23-year-old Ksenia Smirnova. - I am not yet psychologically ready to take on such responsibility. We want to give our child maximum opportunities for development and do not think that we are jumping into the departing train."
At the same time, Ksenia and her husband Artem are studying medical literature and are well aware that closer to thirty, a woman produces fewer hormones, reduced elasticity of joints and tissues, and this can complicate pregnancy and childbirth. What if the partner is over 40 years old, the chances are reduced: the quality of sperm deteriorates due to bad habits, poor environmental conditions. They do not discount long-term bad habits, which, of course, affect the health of the expectant mother and child.
Therefore, no matter what age you plan to start a family, remember that having a baby is a very responsible decision that will change your whole life. Therefore, you need to approach it with great seriousness at any age.
"This is a high-risk childbirth for us."
Irina Andreeva, Ph. D., Deputy chief physician for obstetrics and gynecology of the medical unit 9 named after M. A. Tverie:
“In my personal practice, the oldest primiparous mother was 51 years old. A recent patient from our hospital gave birth at the age of 53. In general, there are indeed more women in labor over forty.
Usually, older pregnant women have a long break between childbirth, an accidental pregnancy, multiple IVF attempts or a planned delayed pregnancy, a built career, a burden of somatic pathology in the form of overweight, arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, uterine fibroids, chronic metroendometritis. There are also many who have had cancer and precancerous diseases and conditions, facts of smoking. Almost 30% of pregnant women of late reproductive age suffer from uterine fibroids, the nodes of which during pregnancy usually increase due to edema, and small ones sometimes disappear.
For us obstetricians and gynecologists, childbirth in the older age group is usually a high-risk birth. The method of delivery in older mothers is chosen depending on many factors. If the pregnancy proceeded well and there are not so many risk factors, then natural childbirth is quite possible and often successful. But more often obstetricians meet with bleeding, abnormalities of labor, difficulty in the birth of the shoulder girdle of the fetus.
In late reproductive age, caesarean section is performed unambiguously more often. This is associated with a burdened history, IVF, the presence of placenta previa, uterine fibroids, obstruction of the birth of the fetus, placental insufficiency, premature abruption of the placenta or its ingrowth, severe arterial hypertension and preeclampsia, severe somatic pathology.
At the same time, it is worth noting that older mothers during childbirth work with doctors in a real tandem, they are well aware of the course of the birth process itself, and this greatly facilitates the provision of medical care."
Late children are welcome
“There are many reasons for late childbirth,” says Tatyana Vodyannikova, a psychotherapist. - And they are not always exclusively social. With a successful combination of circumstances, a woman who has managed to build a career gets married and fulfills her cherished dream. But often she discovers that all the princes on a white horse have long been gray or married. And he decides to raise the child on his own. This scenario is also quite common.
In my practice, there were many families who did not have the opportunity to have children for medical reasons. Examinations, long-term treatment - all this delays childbearing. In several cases, couples decided to adopt a child, and after three or four years they were happy to learn that they had become pregnant. Thus, the revealed maternal instincts provide a path for the internal feminine energy.
From my own experience, I want to say that a woman gets more pleasure from late pregnancy. Because experience tells you how to behave better, what to pay special attention to, what needs to be abandoned or, on the contrary, introduced into your life.
As for the psychological readiness for the appearance of children, then a woman over 30 has more life experience, in order to better raise a baby, they are more attentive and patient about his needs and development. Later children are usually really desirable. Therefore, the motivation and attitude are completely different. The main argument of "adult" mothers is a deliberate approach to conception and pregnancy. This is where the difference between physiological and psychological readiness for motherhood arises."
Three sons with a difference of almost 10 years
“All my children are from different generations,” says Elena Repina, a 38-year-old mother of three. - The difference between them is about ten years. And I will say that the course of pregnancy and their upbringing are extremely different.
How the first pregnancy went, sometimes I can't even remember - I flew like a bird. With my first child, I was still young and completely inexperienced in parenting, just starting to study at the institute. And this, of course, left its mark: there was little time for classes with the child, it was necessary not only to get an education, but also to work, to look for oneself in a profession. And the time was different then: I, a 17-year-old mother, had to endure a lot of misunderstanding not so much from peers as from adults who condemned at every step. I endured all this thanks to my parents, who supported me not only psychologically, but also financially.
The second son was born at the age of 29. It was already a conscious decision. By that time, financially, our family was already firmly on its feet - a house, a car, an understanding of which kindergarten and even school the boy would go to. I went with him without any problems. But he was in no hurry with the birth: we saw him already at the 42nd week of pregnancy. It is said that this is normal for late mothers. The birth was very difficult, because by that time he already weighed more than four kilograms.
The decision to go after the third child, even despite the age, came somehow by itself. And if in the second pregnancy I certainly wanted a boy, then this time it was absolutely all the same - if only he was healthy. Late pregnancy is a completely different experience. You already know a lot and understand: what you can safely refuse, and what you should pay attention to. Today I would give a lot of useful advice to myself, young."
Elena REPINA, 38 years old, mother of three children:
