Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are preparing to welcome a Royal Baby in April, 2019.
The couple, who are reportedly 12 weeks along, wasted no time before starting a family together – the Duchess of Sussex’s age may have had something to do with it.
In August, the duchess celebrated her 37th birthday and while many women are waiting until their late 30s and 40s to have children, women who are pregnant over the age of 35 are considered a higher risk by physicians.
Physicians have even coined a term for that category of women, which some have considered “offensive”: a geriatric pregnancy.
There is more risk for women over the age of 35 when they fall pregnant.
Fertility specialist Zaher Merhi, MD, FACOG, HCLD of New Hope Fertility Center in New York Cit explains that pregnancies involving older women can be complicated for both the mother and child.
For one, there is an increased chance of miscarriage, due to the higher probability of having a chromosomally abnormal embryo that could lead to complications such as Down syndrome.
There is also a higher risk of maternal complications.
Women’s Health describes these as, “gestational hypertension, which can lead to preeclampsia, a condition that can lead to serious health problems for the mother including kidney and liver failure.”
Women’s Health adds, “these pregnancies are more prone to gestational diabetes, a temporary form of diabetes where the body is not producing enough insulin to regulate sugar during pregnancy. Preterm birth and an increased likelihood of birth by c-section are other potential complications.”
However, despite geriatric pregnancies being riskier, they are totally acceptable.
“Having mentioned those risks, most geriatric pregnancies end up with a great outcome (healthy mum and baby) as long as there is a close monitoring in the prenatal period and during the pregnancy,” says Dr. Merhi.
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