Natural Conceptions Over 40

Pregnancy Over 40 Naturally

I am going to be doing a series of posts on real women (from all over the world) who conceived naturally and had a baby over the age of 40. If you are interested in being a part of my series, please send me the following information:

-Your name or a name you would like to be identified by (please let me know if the name you provide is a real name or a pseudonym)

-How you conceived your baby - we're you trying or was it a surprise? Had you previously undergone fertility treatments? If so, which ones?

-If you were trying, how long did it take you to conceive?

-How did your pregnancy progress? Did you have any complications? Did you have a C-section or a vaginal delivery?

-How would you describe your experience as a mother over 40? Do you have other children?

-Please send a picture in a jpeg format of you and your baby/child which I can post on my blog with your story

Use my email address which can be found by going to my website:

www.getpregnantover40.com - contact page

Please note, by sending me the above information/picture, you are authorizing me to post it.

Thanks!!

More On Enhancing Men's Fertility

I've written a little in the past about enhancing male fertility with zinc and folic acid, but I think there's a lot more that can be done. Here is a good webpage to review some natural ways to enhance male fertility (it has a lot of information for women too):

Environmental Causes Of Infertility (www.chem-tox.com)

Some of the major things to avoid include: alcohol, cigarettes, pesticides, solvents, paint chemicals, car exhaust, flavor enhancers (like MSG), many illicit drugs, and even though this article doesn't mention it, laptop computers and even mobile phones have been associated with decreased fertility in men. I found it interesting that miscarriage was found to be more common in couples where the man had a low sperm count.

It seems like our environment can be a very dangerous place. But if we at least have the knowledge we can do our best to dodge some of the major environmental culprits.

Fertility and Alternative Therapies

Although I didn't rely on herbal therapy or accupuncture when I was trying to conceive my daughter, I do believe these therapies can be very effective. In my case, I didn't want to spend more money on paid professionals since we had spent so much money already on fertility treatments. But for those of you interested, here is an article about how complementary/alternative treatments can be very effective.

The new fertility rites
Would-be moms turning to complementary medicine
Katherine Dedyna

Having Babies Over 40 On The Today Show

The today show aired a piece on 9-19-07 about having babies over the age of 40. I feel close to this story because the producer, Margaret Pergler had asked me to assist her in finding women in the LA area to interview for her piece. I posted her request on my blog, and I hope some of my LA readers contacted her. Anyway, I watched the piece (link below) and I thought it was well done. I actually felt the piece was very positive. Yes, they mentioned some of the risks involved with getting pregnant over the age of 40, but by and large the piece was encouraging.

Watch the video:

The Today Show
(you may have to watch a short commercial before viewing the video)

More ICSI With IVF---Is It Medically Justified?

I found the following article about how ICSI (when the sperm is injected directly into the egg) is being used even when there is no diagnosis of male factor infertility. Of course this procedure comes with a high price tag and, as the article discusses, it may be of questionable benefit. Read more:

ICSI Male Infertility Treatment Up
Dramatic 5-Fold Increase Coupled With IVF During Last Decade
By Salynn Boyles
WebMD Medical News

From the article:

In 1995, just 11% of IVF cycles included ICSI, but the percentage had risen to 57.5% a decade later.

The report appears in the July 19 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The findings suggest ICSI is increasingly being used in conjunction with IVF for conditions other than male-factor infertility, says researcher Tarun Jain, MD, who is an assistant professor of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at the University of Illinois, Chicago.

Jain tells WebMD that it is not clear if the benefits derived from ICSI justify the added cost and potential risks for couples without a diagnosis of male infertility.

“Those studies haven’t been done,” he says. “More research is needed to determine if routine use of ICS for nonmale factor conditions is beneficial.”