Is Your Biological Clock Ticking?

More and more women are leaving the decision to get pregnant until they are well into their thirties. This could be because they haven’t met the right partner, or they on concentrating on building their careers.
Whatever the cause, at some point, most women will feel their biological clock ticking…

 

 

What is my biological clock?

Basically it is the feeling you get when you are getting older and maybe you haven’t had any children, or you want more children. It’s like the body’s way of warning you that you are running out of time and to be quick if you want to become a parent.

How do I know it is ticking?

• You’ll start to feel broody. Maybe you’ve never been bothered about the children your friends or family have, but suddenly you do notice. You’ll be really interested in babies and you’ll find yourself peeking into prams and pushchairs and smiling.
• You’ll want to give all the baby’s you see a cuddle, even if they are crying. You won’t mind friends bringing their baby’s with them when you meet them for lunch and you might find yourself offering to babysit.
• You’ll suddenly find yourself looking longingly in baby shops and cooing over baby clothes, shoes and nursery décor.
• Having a baby around the place won’t fill you with dread and you begin to imagine being a mom and the things you’ll do with your child.
• You think seriously for the first time about giving up smoking and drinking less. You even start to look forward to cosy night in.

When is the best time to have a baby?

Doctors say the optimum time to get pregnant is in your twenties and this is because you are producing plenty of eggs and they will mostly be in excellent condition. As the years go by, your egg production slows down and the quality is affected.
Between the ages of 20 and 35 you still stand a good chance of becoming pregnant fairly quickly without problems. However, after the age of 35 you might find getting pregnant more difficult and by the time you reach your forties you only have around a 5% chance of falling pregnant naturally.
If you have left it until you are over 30, don’t despair, many women still do have children, it just may take a little longer. Studies have shown that woman up to the age of 39 who didn’t get pregnant through their first year of trying, did get pregnant during the second year.

Can I check My Fertility?

If you are over the age of 40 you can have a blood test that will check your levels of FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone) and Estrogen. A high level of FSH can be an indicator that you are close or into the menopause. A normal reading for a woman who is still having her periods is between 4.7 and 21.5 mlU/ml, so if your reading is between these numbers you are still fertile. If you have irregular periods, or you aren’t pregnant after trying for at least a year then it is best to have a check- up with your health provider and they can do other tests to find out if there are any other problems. They will also check out your partner, in case there are issues with his sperm.

What if I Haven’t Found a Partner?

If you really want to become a Mom and you are able to bring a child up on your own, then you can go to a fertility clinic and use a sperm donor, or you can look online for a man who provides sperm donation. You can also look online for co-parenting opportunities, which mean that your child has the benefit of two parents and you get to share the expenses.