Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Mature in motherhood

Considering children? Women considering having children at an advanced age should heed the following reproductive health advice, courtesy of local obstetrician/gynecologist Dr. Henry Luh:

For Lori Itson, being an older mom gives her an edge.

The 42-year-old Itson, a Las Vegas orthodontist's assistant, gave birth to her first child, a boy named Isam, five weeks ago.

"I've done all the things I've wanted to do when I was younger, so now I'm ready to be a mom," Itson said. "I'm more content, patient than I might have been in my 20s. The main thing is not my age but what I can offer my child love and a good upbringing."

And what about Itson's advanced age as a first-time mother?

"My energy level is better than any of the younger moms I've seen," Itson said. "I've just felt so wonderful ever since I was pregnant."

Itson is one of a growing number of women choosing to have children later in life.

"Clearly, advanced maternal age is a trend," said Sean Tipton, director of public affairs for the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, a non-profit organization that advances knowledge and expertise in reproductive medicine and biology, in Birmingham, Ala.

Tipton said there are not many surveys centered on advanced maternal age, but the latest figures from Massachusetts, the only state that mandates insurance coverage of fertility treatments, shows that at least in that state more women are giving birth between the ages of 35-40 than 20-25. The largest increase in the number of pregnant women in recent years is between 40- to 45-year-old women.

It is more common to hear about women becoming pregnant without surgery or medical treatments after age 40, Tipton said, but that isn't the norm.

"Some people live to be 100, but most people don't," Tipton said. "Getting pregnant later in life isn't always easy for everyone."

For Itson, as she approached age 40, she knew that children might not be in her future.

"There are always those things against you, but I waited until I was married and ready to have children," she said. "I knew there was a chance I might not have children. I thought it would happen when it was right."

In vitro fertilization, as well as adoption, were options Itson considered. But at the age of 41, after only a few months of trying to conceive, she was surprised to find she was pregnant.

"I'm lucky I guess," she said.

Planned parenthood

The number of local women waiting until later in life to get pregnant has increased dramatically in the last few years, said Dr. Mark Severino, reproductive endocrinologist at the Nevada Fertility Center for Advanced Reproductive Endocrinology Services in Summerlin.

"Women are waiting until they have had their careers and are ready to spend time with their children," Severino said. "By waiting, though, they may hurt their chances of ever becoming pregnant."

Most of Severino's female clients over age 40 opt for in vitro fertilization. The chance of becoming pregnant after three in vitro attempts is about 50 percent, he said.

Although Severino sees a trend locally in the number of older women having babies, he said he expects it to decrease as women become educated about the difficulties, cost and emotional strain it takes to become pregnant later in life.

"It's not as easy as people might think," Severino said.

Dr. Henry Luh, an obstetrician/gynecologist with Deseret Women's Care in Henderson, prepares his clients over age 40 for the emotional and financial turmoil they could experience as they try to become pregnant.

Luh also prepares clients to consider adoption when, after six months, fertility treatments don't appear to be working.

"You can see the hope, frustration and agony in their eyes sometimes and you want to do what you can," Luh said. "But there is an element of time working against you."

Some clients have pointed to beaming celebrity moms well past their early 40s with healthy babies. Photographer Annie Leibovitz and former model Cheryl Tiegs, both 51, are the most recent in the burgeoning celebrity class of mothers to give birth later in life.

But don't believe the hype, Luh said.

"They have Hollywood doctors with 'super eggs' (genetically sound donated eggs)," Luh said. "That kind of technology is great, but very expensive. Most women just need to be educated about how the reproductive system works and what their limits are."

Luh said he sees a lot of reluctance in his patients in their late 30s and early 40s to accept the fact that their reproductive system has declined.

"There is a lack of understanding about the birds and the bees," Luh said. "That's what we are there for -- education and to find a solution, with the end result being a baby."

Baby love

For local artist Rosyln Mauer, a showdown with reproductive science was inevitable.

Mauer, 44, was told in her 20s that she could not conceive children without in vitro fertilization due to problems with her reproductive organs.

Knowing this, Mauer put pregnancy in the back of her mind and went on with her life. She married her husband Jason, seven years her junior, when she was 35. They traveled, ascended in their medical careers, bought and remodeled a home and settled into a child-free life.

But there was a nagging conflict that grew as Mauer approached 40: Did she truly want children, or should she simply continue to live her life as it was without children?

"I didn't want to open that can of worms," Mauer said. "I had been content without kids for 40 years."

She had heard horror stories about mood swings, steep costs and medical nightmares regarding in vitro fertilization.

The first monthlong process costs $10,000 to retrieve the eggs, inject hormone medications and implant the fertilized eggs into a woman's uterus. More than a dozen eggs are fertilized during the initial process.

For each time after that, the cost is about $2,000 to implant more fertilized eggs from the first egg-retrieval procedure.

Eggs are fertilized with sperm in a glass dish in a lab (in vitro is Latin for "glass dish"). The resulting embryos are transferred into the woman's uterus.

Frequently more than one egg is transferred to increase the odds that one egg will successfully implant.

"It seemed such a daunting thing to have to do just to get pregnant," Mauer said.

But she couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing from her life. "I knew I would regret not trying to have children," Mauer said. "I was so ready. I had done everything I wanted."

After a half-dozen failed in vitro attempts and one more to go, Mauer had resigned herself to the fact that she may have to adopt if she wanted to share her life with children.

Mauer completed the last cycle of in vitro fertilization in February 2001 and went home to await the monthly phone call from her doctor.

"Waiting for that phone call to find out if you are pregnant is just torture," Mauer said. "You feel like you've failed each time it doesn't work out."

But that last call made all the soul searching, hormone shots and failed attempts worth the Mauers' struggles, she said. Mauer gave birth with no complications to twins Jane Elizabeth and William Carl four months ago.

Mauer has no regrets about the long, arduous infertility path she took, but she does have advice for women in their 30s: Get pregnant while you can on your own.

"Women need to know that there are some tough decisions they have to make when they go the route I did," Mauer said. "If you are going to wait, educate yourself. You need to know what you are up against."

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