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Become a mother after 40? Now you won't surprise anyone with this. Some at this age decide to have a second or third child, and some feel the joy of motherhood for the first time. There are various reasons why women postpone the birth of a child to such an age. We will talk about how a woman can provide herself with the opportunity to get pregnant and give birth to a baby, even if the natural reproductive function is reduced.
Why are there more and more "adult" mothers?
The birth of the firstborn at the age of about 40 years is often associated with social factors. Preoccupation with work and career, the absence of a permanent partner, an unstable financial situation do not contribute to thoughts that a couple of years will have to be devoted not to work and social life, but to a baby. The trend of "maturity" of mothers is characteristic of the entire civilized world: for example, in Italy, the average age at which a woman becomes a mother for the first time is slightly older than 31 years. German women "don't reach" the age of 30 by literally a couple of months, and in Poland, the average female age at having a first child is 27 years. In Ukraine, there is also an annual increase in this indicator, although our compatriots become mothers quite early in comparison with European women - at 25-26 years old. The largest number of women who decided to have a child over the age of 40 are in Spain and Italy.
In European countries and Ukraine, the attitude towards childbirth at the age of 30-40 years can be called neutral for a long time. The derogatory term "starorodyaschaya" has not been used in women's consultations for a long time. Data has been repeatedly published, indicating that the ideal age for the birth of the first child is the age of 34-35 years, when a woman has sufficient health to conceive and carry a child, at the same time she is psychologically stable, often has a long-term relationship, her own home and is financially secure.
It also plays an important role development of reproductive technologies: women faced with the problem of conception at an earlier age often experience various treatment options and often achieve the desired result at the age of about 40. Thanks to methods of diagnosing pathologies of pregnancy and fetal development, as well as prevention of pregnancy complications, it is now quite possible to bear and give birth to a healthy child at an age that at the beginning of the last century would have been considered simply inappropriate for childbirth. For the benefit of women who wish to delay their first pregnancy, this is an opportunity cryopreservation ovarian tissue or eggs.
Another factor that forces a woman to postpone her dream of motherhood until a later age is health problems or the need for treatment, which may affect the ability to conceive a child. Often this is chemotherapy or radiotherapy for oncological diseases, as a result of which not only malignant but also healthy cells die, including reproductive ones.
Why does he keep it? ovarian tissue?
The work of a woman's reproductive system directly depends on the state of the ovaries. It is this organ that "stores" the ovarian reserve: in fact, a reserve of cells that, after maturation, are capable of fertilization. The ovarian reserve can be exhausted prematurely, but many women retain their reproductive capacity until the age of 40-45, although every year over the age of 30 it becomes more difficult to get pregnant: the eggs mature less often, their quality is lower, not all of them are capable of fertilization, at conception the probability of fetal defects increases. That is why women who for some reason do not have a child under the age of 30 are recommended to think about how to save ovarian tissue in case the desire to get pregnant arises later.
The saved ovarian tissue is retransplanted to the patient when there is a need to restore reproductive function. That is, part of the ovary or the whole organ preserved in the cryobank is transplanted back, the tissue takes root and restores the functions of the organ. More than 100 children were born to women who were retransplanted with their own ovarian tissue, preserved until the ovaries lost the ability to produce eggs.
In addition, retransplantation of ovarian tissue is used to rejuvenate the body - it makes it possible to restore the menstrual cycle and the production of female sex hormones.
What is the difference between ovarian tissue storage and egg storage
In order to obtain reproductive cells for storage, a woman induces the so-called superovulation: under the influence of hormonal preparations, not one follicle matures in her, as in a normal cycle, but many cells, which are removed with the help of a puncture and subjected to cryo-freezing. And ovarian tissue is taken for storage during laparoscopic surgery. Each of the methods is associated with certain complications, but the collection and storage of ovarian tissue is a chance for the birth of a child, first of all, for those women who may lose their reproductive function as a result of the treatment.
Storage of ovarian tissue is recommended:
- before the upcoming gynecological surgery, which may affect reproductive function;
- before the upcoming treatment with the use of chemotherapy or radiation, and in such cases, the collection and storage of ovarian tissue can be carried out in adolescence. In 2014, a woman became a mother, who received a retransplantation of her ovarian tissue, taken for storage at the age of 13 before difficult and long-term treatment;
- women who want to preserve reproductive function, but for some reason cannot use hormonal stimulation of superovulation;
- women who are supposed to take advantage of the possibilities of antiaging therapy, have restored the hormonal background at a more mature age.
Almost any woman who is physically able to bear a child can become a mother today. This does not mean that becoming a mother at the age of 40 for the first time is an idea that most people should follow. However, thanks to the possibilities of reproductive medicine, endocrine gynecology, as well as new data in the field of cryopreservation and tissue transplantation, even those who previously could not dream of becoming a mother get the right to become a mother.
