It's not menopause... you're pregnant!

By Naomi Francis, Staff Reporter

Like teenage girls, many women over 40 feel they cannot get pregnant until it happens

YOU'RE 46 and after giving the better part of your life to your nagging children, you're ready to have a good time.

You have traded waiting up for their curfew for hanging out with the girls every weekend.

In fact, your last dollar now goes into jazzing up your wardrobe instead of paying for swimming lessons. Plus, that trip to New York you have always wanted is now only an airline ticket away. Then there's sex ­ no more muffled sounds. Now you are really enjoying it!

And then, like a dark cloud on a sunny day, hot flashes and nausea takes over. You think it's menopause ­ with the depression, the irritation and the mood swings. So you go to your gynaecologist, and she tells you -- you're PREGNANT.

This is what happened to Antonette Hudson. A mother of four, the youngest being 11, Mrs. Hudson has another child on the way.

"When I found out I was pregnant at this stage of my life I was devastated. I'm 46, I had out my lot in my late teens and twenties. This is when I should be having fun," she complained.

Now in the eighth month of pregnancy Mrs. Hudson is trying to rekindle what she thinks is her 'lost art of mothering a new born' ­ her new born. Again.

She's not alone. Forty-seven-year-old Florence Kingsays she suffered a similar fate last year. Ms. King is now the mother of seven-month-old Julian. Both mother and baby are now in Miami. Ms. King went to Miami because she says she felt "uneasy being in Jamaica with a child and grandchild almost the same age." Ms. King's daughter who is 25 gave birth to her first born three months before Julian was born. She says she now has to get used to being a mother again and a grandmother all at the same time.

"I really had some terrible mood swings and nausea and I honestly thought it was menopause. Nobody was more shocked than me, and you know what had me baffled, my period was really irregular so I really thought my child bearing days were ending," she says.

"I'm not really ashamed, its just that people don't expect a woman at my age and stage to be raising children anymore, so being in Miami has been some help," she says.

NOT STRANGE

Doctors say incidence of women getting pregnant after age 40 are not uncommon and may be increasing. More women today are delaying childbearing until later for reasons ranging from career, financial status and late marriage. And, especially in developed countries, successful treatment of infertile women over 40 is on the rise.

Still, it is not a matter of choice for some women. As shown above, unplanned pregnancies account for a significant proportion of babies born to women over 40.

The Ministry of Health does not collect data on the number of women over 40 who have children, but data from the National Centre for Health Statistics in the US shows that between 1978 and 1997, the birth rate rose 90 per cent for women age 35 to 39. Between 1981 and 1997, the rate increased 87 per cent for women in their 40s.

Doctors say many women who think they are going through menopause are finding out that they are pregnant. There is a thin line between the symptoms of menopause and pregnancy, according to Kingston gynaecologist, Errol Daley. Women who get pregnant later in life usually mistake the conditions caused in the early stages of menopause and the early stages of pregnancy.

Dr. Daley says many women who are going through menopause think "they can let their guard down." He warns against this.

"By the time a woman is at her reproductive peak, that's about her 20s, she has over 20 million eggs. They are constantly dying off and by the time she reaches 40 a few thousand are left and by the time she is 50 they should all be dead. So its a fallacy that women can't get pregnant in their 40s. It is just that the likelihood of that is greatly decreased," he explains.

Therefore, older women should understand that they are still fertile and can have unwanted pregnancies just like younger women if they are not on guard.

RISKS

Despite the rising phenomenon, there are risks associated with being pregnant after age 35. Some of these include, a higher risk of miscarriages and complications before or during delivery.

Studies from the National Centre for Health Statistics in the US show women in their 40s have a 25 per cent more likely to have complications during their pregnancy. Therefore the likelihood of miscarriages, still births, premature and handicaps in new borns are increased.

Ms. King says she was mindful of the possible complications and thanks God her delivery was smooth and the baby is healthy.

"It only takes a matter of hours for a low risk pregnancy to become high risk," says Dr. Errol Daley. He says older women in their late 30s may not be known to have any problem.

"But everything can change really rapidly. They can start to bleed or their blood pressure goes up a little or they could have what is known as pre-eclampsia (toxic condition developing in late pregnancy and characterised by rising blood pressure) and that's it."

While young women are observed carefully during the first trimester, older women are under even greater scrutiny.

Doctors say the risk of having a miscarriage is greater for women over 40. There are also increased incidence of chromosomal abnormalities such as Down syndrome, mental retardation and mongoloid children.

Dr. Daley says mongoloids tend to die early and are prone to leukaemia. Of course he points out that women over forty can have a perfectly normal pregnancy and delivery.

"The best thing for woman to do is to always be protected against unplanned pregnancies, use contraceptives, I can't stress that enough," says Dr. Daley.

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