Kerrie, 46, Sydney, Australia
At age 39 (in 2005) my partner of 2 years and I decided to try for a baby for 12 months and if it didn't happen naturally, or within those 12 months, then I was getting my tubes tied for my 40th birthday so life could go on knowing we gave it a shot and, if it was meant to be, then we would be so very lucky.
My mum has lupus and my brother has MS, which is all in the autoimmune disease family. I get tested every now and then and decided that it was probably best just before we started the family. My doctor advised me my rubella was very low and to get a top up before trying. This would take another 3 months before it was safe to start. I remember starting the first day of my holiday with a period and half way to our destination was when I had to call the doctor to make sure all was topped up ok. That was my last period for 9 months.
We fell pregnant first go - this was not even checking ovulations days or calendar; however, after my holiday I was to start a new job and if lasted 12 months in that job I would get 16 weeks’ full pay maternity. I guess I was just not meant to get that paid maternity as I fell first go I was only in the job 8.5 months.
6 weeks before my 40th birthday we had a beautiful healthy baby girl. I had no major complications during pregnancy except for bad heartburn/reflux and a weight gain of only about 6kgs.
18 months later we thought it would be nice to give her a sibling to grow old with - and on the 3rd month of trying we were pregnant again with another healthy girl. I gave birth to her at age 42; another healthy, complication-free pregnancy, except this time with silent reflux and a weight gain of 2kgs. One week after the birth I weighed myself and had actually lost 15kg during the pregnancy. I am only 5ft.5inches and short waisted so very quickly there wasn't a lot of room in there, hence the silent reflux, which lead to my tummy always feeling full and the subsequent weight loss, although my girl was a healthy 8lb.
Both pregnancies ended with C-section because I couldn't dilate past 7cm but all in all they were perfectly normal except for the very last stage. Also my mum had 3 C-sections, her sister also had 3 C-sections and my cousin on that side also had 2, so probably just in our genes but nothing to do with age.
My doctor had said cases like mine are getting more and more common so ladies never give up trying naturally after 40.
I would be happy to chat to other ladies about my experiences. Please ask Jan to forward your details to me.
