As women age, their hormone levels fall and menopause begins,
ultimately resulting in their ovaries, no longer producing eggs. However, while
many women believe that menopause happens overnight, the process can actually
take years to complete. Until the process is complete, a woman can get
pregnant.
Becoming
Pregnant During Menopause - The Menopause Baby
When a woman goes through the menopause, her body phases out menstrual
cycles until they stop completely. The woman may go for months or even a year
between having one period and the next. This long time frame is at the heart of
the undiscovered menopause baby.
During the time when the female body is not having a menstrual cycle,
the body may still be releasing those last few eggs. If the egg is released and
there is a viable sperm waiting to fertilize the egg, the female can, and will,
get pregnant.
Thanks to the lack of a normal menstrual cycle, the female may not
notice they are pregnant until they are months into the pregnancy. There have
even been cases where mothers of climbing age have gone to the hospital with
stomach and back pains only to leave the hospital a few days later with a baby
in their arms.
Definitely, chances of pregnancy are lower in your menopausal years
than during your 20s and 30s. By the time you are 40, your chances of becoming
pregnant naturally are reduced by 50%. This percentage continues to decline the
older you get. However, you are not completely infertile until your periods
have stopped for at least one complete year. In fact, two-thirds of
women between the ages of 40 and 44 ovulate regularly during
perimenopause.
Detecting the
Menopause Baby
The tricky point sometimes related to the fact
that the perimenopausal symptoms mirror greatly the pregnancy symptoms, so it
is easy to oversee the pregnancy signs, when you consider yourself of being in
menopause. Of course, the most obvious is the missed period caused by
perimenopause and pregnancy.
During pregnancy, fatigue sets in and most
women find that it's difficult to get up in the morning. Often this is because
of the change of hormones produced and energy used by the body for pregnancy.
Perimenopausal women also experience fatigue but it comes from interrupted
sleep caused by their change in hormones.
Both pregnant women and perimenopausal women
have a reputation for mood swings. They both occur for the same reason, changes
in the body's hormones.
Hot flashes seldom occur in pregnant women, so
if you have all the above symptoms and hot flashes, you're probably not
pregnant.
So, it is important as the female goes through the cycle of menopause
to keep regular gynecological checkups. These checkups will allow for the
doctor to examine the female and possibly detect the rouge pregnancy before it
is too late to begin prenatal care.
It is important to keep track of all your menstrual cycles well into
menopause and take note of any changes occurring in the body. There are clear
signs when a pregnancy begins that will not be synonymous with menopause. These
symptoms may include total cessation of periods, an unexplained increased in
weight and swelling of the extremities.
Preventing the
Menopausal Pregnancy
A lot of perimenopausal are unaware of the facts
surrounding pregnancy during menopause. More than 60% of unintended
pregnancies in women over 40 are aborted. More than 50% of women between 45 and
49 are not using contraception. 10% of these women in this age group
use natural methods to protect against pregnancy. Natural methods may
not be enough to prevent pregnancy during this time. Your periods are too
irregular, and symptoms of menopause may distort your cycle. Although your
risks are low, don't get caught unaware.
Pregnancy after the age of 35 is associated with a number of risks for
both you and your baby. Chances of premature birth, low birth weight and still
birth all increase after 35. Your baby also has a greater chance of being born
in a breech position or via cesarean section. After 40, dangers
to you and your baby increase again. You are at increased risk for developing
bone loss or osteoporosis. There is also a greater risk of your baby
developing gestational diabetes or chromosome abnormalities.
Additionally, chances of spontaneous abortion increase.
If you really don't want to become pregnant, then look into getting
some contraception that is appropriate for you and your lifestyle.
The most popular method of contraception among women over 40 is
sterilization. Tubal ligation is a simple process in which your doctor
cuts, ties, or clamps your fallopian tubes to prevent any eggs from traveling
to you uterus. This process must be done in hospital under general anesthetic,
but recovery time is only about one day. 20% of menopausal women have partners
who have been sterilized. Vasectomies are quickly and safely
performed, and involve cutting the vans deferens (the tube that carries sperm)
to prevent fertilization.
Oral contraceptives continue to be one of the most popular methods
of contraception. They also have the added benefit of
reducing symptoms associated with menopause, including hot
flashes and vaginal dryness. However, oral contraceptives can put
older women at risk for strokes and heart attacks.
Barrier protection, like condoms, sponges, and cervical
caps are well suited to women who only need occasional contraception.
Barrier methods also provide protection against some sexually transmitted
diseases.
If you Want to
Have a Baby
While biologically it seems impossible to get pregnant after menopause
(once you have been without your period for an
entire year and confirmed with your doctor), women who wish to have a pregnancy after
menopause still have options. Women can use egg donors. The egg is
fertilized outside the womb and then implanted in the uterus. Women after
menopause need to take hormones leading up to this procedure in order to
prepare the uterine lining to accept the eggs or embryos. Timing is
important and several attempts may be necessary before a successful
implantation is made. Besides the risk of failure and the many health
risks of a pregnancy at an older age, there is a real risk of multiples:
twins, triplets, and even octuplets.
There are many reasons not to attempt a pregnancy after
menopause. There are many risks for the woman. Pregnancies become
being treated as high risk when the woman reaches the age of 35. The
possibility of serious risks increases with every year after that age.
Any pregnancy carries risk. Gestational diabetes is a common complication
of pregnancy and is increasingly common in older pregnant women.
Eclampsia, hypertension, bleeding, embolisms, and seizures are all also
frequent complications in a high risk pregnancy, especially in an older
woman. Becoming pregnant after or during menopause is often unhealthy for
the mother and unfortunately also unhealthy for the baby, since miscarriage is
also a common complication that is encountered by the older pregnant woman.
If having a baby is the decision you’ve made, using a surrogate mother
may bring you the satisfaction you need and also protect your health and the
health of your baby. The surrogate mother will be someone that a doctor
has certified is in good health. You’ll want to make sure that the
surrogate mother also is in good emotional health, as the process of carrying a
baby and then giving it up can be very difficult. If you are still
producing eggs, some will be harvested and then fertilized in the lab.
The surrogate will be given hormones in preparation for implantation of the
eggs. In this type of pregnancy, there is also a high risk of multiple
babies since more than one egg is implanted at a time.
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