Hopefully Helpful | Jasmine Mayfair | Reviews

As recent as a few years back, getting pregnant over 40 is considered obstetrically risky.

But with Hollywood celebrities like Madonna, Brooke Shields, Halley Berry, Marcia Cross, and Courtney Cox Arquette getting their stork visit in their 40s, people see this as a trend nowadays. More and more women are getting pregnant over 40.

But is age just a number? Is 40 the new 30? Not when it comes to matters of fertility.

Getting pregnant over 40 without the use of fertility-enhancing drugs or assisted reproduction techniques is possible. It may be more difficult than when you were in your 20s or early 30s, but it is not beyond your reach. It would entail some effort on your part. But if it means holding a baby in your arms at the end of 9 months, then everything is worth the sacrifice, right?

Getting back to the basics, for pregnancy to occur, a viable egg must meet a sperm and be fertilized. This is the reason why most fertility experts agree that trying to get pregnant for the first time at the age of 40 is difficult. Our bodies are just not as young as they used to be. For one, the quality of our eggs has declined considerably. And secondly, there is no guarantee that we are even ovulating, or releasing these eggs, every cycle.