Pregnancy after 30 - dangerous for mother and baby!

Conception, prolonged labour pain, risk to the newborn are a few dangers of a delayed pregnancy.

With a greater number of women landing high-flying jobs and climbing up the corporate ladder by taking up important positions at their firms, their personal lives have taken a slight back-seat and priorities have shifted. The tradition of getting married early is no longer the set norm and as a result, the process of getting pregnant has been delayed. Things get worse when couples make bad lifestyle choices, increasing the possibility of gynaecological problems and complications during conception and consequently during pregnancy. Here are some of the major roadblocks that couples can face if they opt for a delayed pregnancy with ways to tackle them.

Conception and other problems

The first problem that couples are likely to face in a delayed pregnancy is that of conception. As women age, the egg production in their body decreases thereby resulting in possible infertility. According to Dr Vikram Shah, Gynaecologist and Obstetrician from Ashwini Hospital, fertility levels are the best when you are below 30 years of age. Hence it is always better to conceive before you enter your 30s. Here are seven tips to help you conceive a baby faster.

Even if you conceive, there are possibilities of having problems in sustaining the pregnancy. This is because the hormonal variations in a woman's body can cause spontaneous miscarriage. 'Once you are pregnant, you need to be very watchful about every development and inform the doctor if you feel that something is amiss somewhere. Also, you need to make sure that you take ample rest, eat healthy and go for your regular check-ups,' recommends Dr Shah.

Besides these, there are other problems like thyroid, diabetes and high blood pressure that are likely to crop up especially in the second trimester. When there are such complications, the risk of having a premature delivery also increases. In such a scenario, the doctor may put you on natural progesterone supplements in order to avoid miscarriage or premature delivery.

Prolonged labour pain

Conceiving at a later age may result in prolonged labour pain. Some of the reasons that result in such a scenario are:

• The contractions are not strong enough to push the baby out
• The cervix is not opening properly
• The baby movements are not right

In the above cases, you may have to opt for a C-section. Here is what you should expect after a C-section.

Risks for the newborn

When you have a late pregnancy, not only you but your baby is also at a greater risk. Even if you manage to conceive easily, the risks of delivering a healthy baby in the right way is low.

In late pregnancies, the baby is also prone to developing genetic abnormalities like Down's syndrome or a spinal cord defect after he or she is born. In order to avoid this, an amniocentesis test and regular ultrasounds are done in order to find out about the baby's developments and ensure that his or her organs are developing and functioning properly. So if you are planning to get pregnant and are over the age of 30, it is important that you get yourself checked thoroughly beforehand by your doctor to ensure that nothing goes wrong after you conceive. Here are five things that will happen to you after delivery you need to be prepared for.

With inputs from Dr Ashwini B Gandhi, Consultant Gynaecologist from PD Hinduja Hospital.

Image source: Getty images

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