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Show i? healthy minds healthy bodies Should you wait to have a child? Getthe facts. The Fertility ri Factor OST WOMEN who are on a career track do not worry about the consequences of delaying childbirth—they’re confident thatall the technical advances they hear aboutwill enable them to become preg- nant well into their 40s and beyond. The truthis that fertility declines steadily with age. A woman’s best chance of becoming pregnant is between 18 and 25. Over the next 10 years, that number drops by half. By age 40, herfertility is only 15% of what it was at age 25. At 44 and beyond.there's only a 1% chance ofsuccess each month. The success of in vitro fertilization in a womanover 35 drops signifi- | cantly if her own eggs are used. If she’s pushing 50, her best chance of | becoming pregnantis with eggs trom | a youngerdonor. Your Eggs And Your Age The reasonfor all this lies in the numberand characteristics of the eggs themselves. At birth, a girl’s ovaries contain | million to 2 million eggs. At puberty, that numberdrops to 400,000 and continues to fall—especially quickly approaching 35. There alsois some deterioration in egg “quality” » 2) Whystop what you're doing, just to check your Caller ID? aA, X2 4 w= 6Panasonic'’s new Talking Caller iD, with the automatic Text-to-Speech feature, announces who's cailing. It actually talks to you! Just piug it in No need to program. No need to run and read. No need to interruptlife. To see (and hear!) more...and learn about an exciting free offer, go to Requires suescripvon to Caller 10. a lee based phome Company service Best Buy + Circuit City + Office Depot + Office Max + Stapies | with age. No one knows why. Whena couple can’t conceive, bothpartners should be evaluated— Statistically theyre equally “at fault.” While spermis a key player and can be inadequate for various reasons, a man’s age does not appear to be a major factor in the infertility equation. Conception can bedifficult, especially for women over40. Early checkups can help. is There A Problem? If you've beentryingtostart a family without successandare in your2()s and healthy, give it a year before seek ing professionalhelp. But don’t wait longer than six months if you're female and over30, or if you have one or more ofthe following: chronic pelvic infection, endometriosis (uterine tissue occurring elsewhere in the pelvis or abdomen), painful oriregular periods,or recurrent miscarriages. If, after several months without success, a couple decidesto gethelp,the male should see a urologist (who may refer him toa specialistin infertility). = Testing And Treatment Testing a woman forfertility usually is more involved. A careful historyis takenand aphysical exam is done,especially looking for evidence ofpelvic « PAGE 8 « OCTOBER 12, 2003 « PARADE MAGAZINE |
