Show More and more it's happening—thanks to new fertility techniques and women's determination d likei Yfrat ili :t 141 It air il® A' C-tili- Fitolck-iRdHOIEel- f :fa:indoll Dr Frigoletto says age isn't a factor in his as- OR WOMEN AT THE end of their childbearing years who've never had a baby but still yearn to have one the ticking of the biological clock be- comes so loud and corn- - i it ' t pelling that many can think of nothing else All pales before the joy of holding their own baby in their arms They are undaunted even by the very serious risks of late pregnancies—including miscarriage prolonged labor Caesarean section expensive fertility treatments and birth defects Yet they often are rewarded: Babies that such mothers call "small miracles" are being born increasingly day by day Medical fertility advances have renewed the options of older women who want motherhood at any cost—regardless of the money risk and possible pain 006- - fitness" he adds "Whether 25 or 45 if you have a significant medical disor der it will affect the pregnancy outcome" Doctors once warned women ' 1 Ig Lucy Muhlfeld 38—who lives on Long Island NY with her husband Joe ICazickas and their child long-await- auto-immu- ne BY e 4 er S H r ' ) - Mother and child are doing nkely thank you: Vinton Henderson Bauer 38 a diabetic had three painful failures before defying the odds and giving birth te her soft Grant en do just as well as the younger ones" The rate of first births among women aged 30 to 39 more than doubled between 1970 and 1986 And for women over 40 it increased a giant 50 percent— producing for research the first large population pool of older mothers Dr Gertrud Berkowitz associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York has assessed the pregnancies of 800 over the age of 35 birth-mothe- E R rs R 'Y E one" says Lucy Muhlfeld "you'll take every possible against late preg- nancies primarily because of the added danger of birth defects But mik no statistical cat relation with advancing age was found in a recent Canadian study of more than 26000 children with birth defects not clearly traced to biological causes—such as cleft palate spina bifida and clubfoot However such chromosomal defects as Down's syndrome are considered a risk for late pregnancies "The incidence of Down's at age 35 is one in 365" says Dr Berkowitz "At age 45 it rises to one in 32 according to studies But another way of interpreting the numbers is that 97 out of every 100 babies will not have Down's syndrome" Also tests such as amniocentesis can identify this condition before birth Says Lucy Muhlfeld: "You want the baby so you take your chances There were options to try How could I not take them?" Finally resorting to in vitro fertilization (IW) she tried three times— at &total cost of $ 18000—before Annalina was born She is now preparing for another pregnancy via I'VF For older mothers with all kinds of weighing their risks and rewards "Older women" reports Dr Berkowitz "were more likely to have pregnancy complications like gestational diabetes and hypertension and more likely to have prolonged labor and Caesarean sections But we were surprised to find that their infants fared as well as the infants of younger women" The babies of the older moms were no more likely to be premature she adds and were as healthy at birth as the babies of younger mothers HENRY PACE A 100110111111PIEMMIWOOP111ip plays W'm $12500 per play you want chance" 1 ed now nearly 3—was a baby-boomwho nonchalantly had put off motherhood thinking that getting pregnant would be easy But when it became obvious that pregnancy might never happen having a baby ruled all other aspects of the couple's lives "If you don't have a child and you want one" says Muhlfeld "you'll take every possible chance Until you're finally told that there's no way to do it there's always the hope—probably until you're 48—that you just might have a baby It's the hope that drives you on" Why until recently had doctors been telling women over 35 not even to attempt a first pregnancy? "Probably misinformation" says pr Fredric Frigoletto chief of obstetrics at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and a professor of obstetrics at Harvard University's School of Medicine "If you screen out women with problems such as hypotension diabetes kidney disease and disorders the older worn Annalina sessment of an older woman's ability to carry and deliver a healthy child "I'd rather con- sider health and child and 0“00 shown making your vacation virtually fret "woe ! JANUARY 19 1992 uninonorw OFFER EXPIRES MIDNIGHT JASUART PANE EL 1912 MAGAZINE 81009 ' P |