I'm Over 35 and Pregnant. Am I Considered High-Risk?

More women than ever before are waiting until later in life to start their families — in fact, about 20% of women in the United States now have their first child after the age of 35.

Technically, getting pregnant after the age of 35 is considered an “advanced maternal age,” which places you in the high-risk category. But this categorization is largely out of precaution and scores of women successfully build families in their late 30s and early 40s.

Still, there are some concerns for which we want to be on the lookout when you’re pregnant past the age of 35. The team here at Bay Area Physicians for Women’s Health offers comprehensive pregnancy and obstetric services, and we’re well versed in age-related high-risk pregnancies. 

To give you an idea about why our concern is heightened when you’re pregnant later in life, read on to learn more.

Heightened pregnancy risks after the age of 35

We first want to point out the semantics here — we’re talking about risks and not about things that will happen. So, please read the following with that in mind as we don’t want to scare you unnecessarily.

As you get older, the quality of your eggs can decline, which is one of the reasons why we categorize pregnancies after the age of 35 as higher risk. Another reason why advanced maternal age can be more problematic when it comes to pregnancy is that the older you are, the more likely it is that you’ve developed a chronic condition.

For example, nearly half of adults in the United States have high blood pressure and more than 38 million people have diabetes — both of these conditions can cause problems during a pregnancy.

As a result of these factors, women who are pregnant past the age of 35 can be at higher risk for:

• Pre-eclampsia
• Gestational diabetes
• Premature birth
• Low birth weight
• Twins
• Genetic disorders
• Cesarean section

Again, we want to underscore the fact that these are not eventualities, just situations of which we want to be mindful during your pregnancy.

How we navigate a high-risk pregnancy

In terms of your prenatal care, the big difference is that we might want to monitor you more closely and perform some additional testing.

For example, you might opt for additional testing in your first trimester to detect any chromosomal anomalies. We can start with cell-free fetal DNA screening or maternal blood screening, which can tell us whether your fetus carries any risks for birth defects. Depending upon what we find, we can perform additional testing.

We will also want to see you more frequently, especially if you have a pre-existing health condition that we need to monitor. During these visits, we’ll check your blood pressure and blood sugar levels, among other things, to make sure they’re stable.

Aside from some additional visits and maybe some extra testing, we treat your pregnancy as any other. Rest assured, we’ve helped many women of advanced maternal age welcome healthy babies into the world, and our goal is to do the same for you.

For expert care of your high-risk pregnancy, please contact our office in Mobile, Alabama, to schedule an appointment with one of our specialists who can guide you moving forward.