If you are over 35 and considering pregnancy, ensure that you get early and regular prenatal (before pregnancy) care. The first 8 weeks of your pregnancy are crucial to your baby's development. Early and regular prenatal care can increase your chances of having a safe pregnancy and a healthy baby. This includes screenings, regular exams, pregnancy and childbirth education, and counseling and support.

Prenatal care also allows your doctor to stay ahead of health conditions that are more common in women who are older when they get pregnant. Your age may increase your risk for Diabetes or Hypertension in pregnancy.  

During prenatal visits, your doctor will check your blood pressure, test your urine for protein and sugar, and test your blood glucose levels.  This ensures that potential problems are diagnosed and treated early.

The risk of birth abrnomalities

• Folic acid and iron must be taken in every pregnancy to prevent deficiencies in baby and birth abnormalities  

• Certain medications such as Epilepsy pills may need to be stopped in pregnancy

• Smoking in pregnancy causes the blood vessels which carry oxygen to the baby to shrink.  Less oxygen to baby means baby doesnt grow well in womb and will have trouble having a healthy weight after birth.  Brain function is also affected.   

• Drinking in pregnancy can cause Fetal alcohol syndrome which has many symtoms including developmental delay.

• A woman's chances of giving birth to a child with Down syndrome increase with age because older eggs have a greater risk of improper chromosome division. By age 35, a woman's risk of conceiving a child with Down syndrome is about 1 in 350. By age 40, the risk is about 1 in 100, and by age 45, the risk is about 1 in 30.  A woman who has one child with Down syndrome has about a 1 in 100 chance of having another child with Down syndrome.  Both men and women can pass the genetic defect for Down syndrome on to their children.