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Advanced Maternal Age Pregnancy

Advanced maternal age pregnancy: It’s all about the eggs

Every day at our Austin IVF clinic, many of the patients we see are women who are ready to explore advanced maternal age pregnancy. Advanced maternal age is defined as a woman who is age 35 or older, but the term applies primarily to a woman’s eggs, which age faster than the rest of her body.

While female fertility inevitably decreases with age due to reduced egg quantity and quality, an otherwise healthy woman over the age of 35 can successfully carry a pregnancy. That’s why so many women who are choosing to become mothers later in life are finding success through today’s medical advances.

Advanced maternal age pregnancy diagnosis and treatment

Not all women will have difficulty achieving advanced maternal age pregnancy on their own. But with each additional year of age over 35, it becomes more likely that a woman will require fertility treatment.

Ovarian reserve testing helps reproductive endocrinologists at our Austin IVF clinic determine approximately how many eggs a woman likely has remaining, providing valuable insight into her fertility potential and allowing her physician to create an individualized treatment plan to maximize her chance for success.

In vitro fertilization (IVF) involves retrieving eggs from a woman’s ovaries, combining them with sperm in the IVF lab, monitoring them for fertilization and proper embryo growth for several days, and then transferring a resulting embryo to the woman’s uterus with the goal of implantation and a successful pregnancy.

Donor egg IVF has become an established practice with high rates of pregnancy success. Using eggs from donors who are in their 20s, this form of IVF often can provide the path to advanced maternal age pregnancy. An egg donor can be someone known to the patient or an anonymous donor from our in-house donor program.

When time is of the essence

If you are 35 or older and have not been able to conceive after six months of unprotected, timed intercourse, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine recommends scheduling an appointment with a fertility specialist.

Contact the specialists at our Austin IVF clinic for an appointment to discuss your individual needs and the options available to help you have a baby.