How late is too late to have babies?

With more and more Tanzanian women opting to build their careers first before they settle down, a new trend has emerged, of mothers who choose to have babies in their late 30s and 40s

Each morning for the last couple of months, a now familiar pang of sorrow washes over Laura John as she stares into her mirror. It pains her to realise that her period has started, and with it the sorrowful reminder that the pregnancy she yearns for remains just that.

It’s her ache for another baby. She wonders whether, at 45, with her one beautiful daughter aged seven and a happy marriage, she is being selfish to want so desperately to add to her family.

“I conceived my beautiful children at 38, a time when the odds of falling pregnant diminish month on month. As I look at her playing happily I can only try to imagine how desperate I would have felt if those odds had worked against me - as it has for so many others,” she says.

Defying the odds,  many women today prefer to give birth in their late 30s and 40s. Many of them are professionals who decide to dedicate the better part of their lives to building their careers.

This trend of ‘older mum’ is despite the several warnings in research findings, proving that there may be a heavy price to pay for late pregnancy.

Health experts encourage women to have children before they reach 40 due to potential health risks to both mother and child.

At 51, Edith Karoli, a resident of Kimara in Dar es Salaam, joined the growing list of women defying the odds to bring new life to the world.

“I only learnt that I was pregnant when I was in the second trimester,” she tells Sound Living.

But for a while, her life turned a tough page.

“It became difficult for me to relate normally with people everywhere I went. Some would stare at me as if I had done something seriously wrong; others passed negative comments,” she says.

Troubles multiplied

Her troubles multiplied at the clinic where she went for checks. The nurses blamed her for risking her life and that of the unborn child.

“I always felt I made a mistake. I didn’t plan to conceive at that age, but it happened. And I thank God that I delivered a healthy baby,” says Edith, a mother of six.  

But some unusual things happened during her pregnancy. Six months before she conceived, Edith had a menstrual period whose cycle she says was not normal.

She sometimes feared she could lose the child, or that the baby could be born with some deformity.

“If you decide to get pregnant at that age, there is risk of conceiving a child with Down syndrome,” says Dr Yahaya Mohamed, a gynaecologist at Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam.

Miscarriage

Complications such as miscarriage, pre-eclampsia, ectopic pregnancy and stillbirth are other risks associated with late pregnancy, according to Dr Yahaya.

 “Because of the many complications they are exposed to, women in their late 40s and 50s are often advised to deliver by Caesarean,” he says. 

But some women say it is not their fault, or career ambitions that force them to delay giving birth.

Joanah, who prefers to be identified only by her first name, blames her husband Peter for ‘not being serious about settling down for a family life”.

“I met him when I was 34 and we dated for two years before we got married in 2010. But when I asked him about babies, he kept on saying maybe next year? Maybe next year” The sad truth was I didn’t have many years left. I was 36 and increasingly desperate to have my first child,” she tells Sound Living.

But despite the ticking clock, Joana says she heard those three words many times more. And that was not the first time.

“Before Peter, my previous partner to whom I had been engaged several years earlier had said the same words until I decided to dump him. The truth is that I have experienced nothing but trouble whenever I have attempted to persuade a man to have children with me.”

Joanah finally gave birth to her first child last year when she was 39.

At 46, popular American actress and former fashion model Halle Berry is the latest celebrity to announce that she is pregnant with her second child. Berry had her first child when she was 41.

Being a wealthy woman, she looks incredibly healthy for a pregnant woman of her age, and her great salary may shield her from most of the complications of being an older mum.

Still, there are some late pregnancy complications money can’t fix. One factor she can’t change is the age of her eggs. Aging eggs cannot be helped and are a risk factor for anyone her age, health experts say.

Dr Juma Mwaka of the Fore Plan Herbal Clinic and Natural Therapies, which provides herbal therapies to women with conceiving problems, says any woman who is borderline for a disease such as hypertension that might not otherwise have developed until her 60s could be more at risk, due to the huge influx of hormones that comes with being pregnant.

 “Compared with giving birth when one is in the 20s, pregnancy-related risks tend to double for women in the 40s and above,” he says in an interview with Sound Living.

“The body goes through hormonal and fertility changes as one gets older, and these can increase the chances of miscarriage. Medical problems such as high blood pressure, or general poor health can also increase the odds of having a miscarriage.”

Screening for diabetes

Doctors urge pregnant women over the age of 40 to be as proactive as possible through their pregnancy. They are encouraged to attend screening for diabetes and high blood pressure, as well as test for lipids and blood sugars.

According to a recent study by the UK-based Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the average childbearing age for women is now 29.3 years of age. In 1968, the average age was at 23 years of age.

The study that brought together all the new research on how to maximise the chances of getting pregnant was published in the medical journal Obstetrician and Gynaecologist.

It is a review of several major studies on fertility and getting pregnant. It reveals that the number of women giving birth at 40 years and above has trebled in the last 20 years.