With the development of society and the increase of people's life pressure, more and more women have begun to marry late and have children later, coupled with the opening of the "second and third child" birth policy, "elderly mothers" are more and more.
No matter how healthy a woman's body has been, no matter how many times she has been pregnant before, once she is over 35 years old, she will be classified as an "advanced maternal age" and need to be paid attention to. Because advanced mothers face far greater risks from pregnancy to childbirth than non-advanced women.
First, when a woman becomes pregnant after the age of 35, the risk of several common chromosomal malformations in the fetus increases dramatically.
Secondly, in addition to fetal malformations, the risk of miscarriage, premature birth, and fetal growth restriction in the womb is also increasing.
According to statistics, the risk of preterm birth is about 45% for women aged 30 to 34 years; 56% for women aged 35 to 39 years, and up to 68% for women over 40 years of age.
Third, women after the age of 35 are also significantly at increased risk of various complications common during pregnancy and childbirth.
For example, gestational hypertension, gestational diabetes, placenta previa, postpartum haemorrhage, etc., all reached the highest values after the age of 35.
Among them, gestational hypertension and ordinary hypertension are different, and the probability of its occurrence is about 5% to 12%.
When not pregnant, a woman's blood pressure is normal. However, after pregnancy, women may have a group of diseases that coexist with pregnancy and increased blood pressure, including hypertension during pregnancy, preeclampsia, eclampsia, pregnancy with chronic hypertension, and chronic hypertension complicated by preeclampsia.
Collectively, we refer to these as hypertensive diseases of pregnancy, which are common obstetric conditions and one of the leading causes of maternal and perinatal mortality.
Hypertensive diseases during pregnancy can cause spasm of small blood vessels throughout the body, endothelial damage and local ischemia, resulting in reduced blood perfusion of various organs in various systems of the mother's body, and even seriously endangering the health of mothers and babies.
Therefore, elderly women must pay attention to the following points in their daily lives:
1. Do prenatal examination on time on time, and find problems in time to solve them in time;
2. Control diet and exercise, pay attention to the monitoring of blood pressure and blood sugar;
3. At about 24 weeks, you must go to the hospital for ultrasound major expulsion;
4. If necessary, do non-invasive DNA, or even amniocentesis, to see if the evaluation of chromosomes is abnormal;
5. Pay attention to the changes in fetal movement in the third trimester and learn to count fetal movements.
Before giving birth, advanced maternal age should pay attention to the following aspects:
1. Communicate with the doctor in time to make a childbirth plan before giving birth
As long as there are conditions, it is best for elderly women to communicate with obstetricians about the birth plan near the due date or about 36 weeks, share the birth scenarios and needs they want to give to the doctor, so that the doctor can judge what is feasible and what is not feasible from a professional point of view, and make appropriate adjustments.
This reduces the woman's fear of the unknown during childbirth and makes the delivery process smoother.
2. When it is difficult for elderly women to give birth naturally, they should be prepared in advance.
Unlike women who conceive at the appropriate age, 90% of older women choose caesarean section. This is because the pelvis of elderly women is relatively hard, the elasticity of the body's ligaments and birth canal tissues is reduced, and the contraction ability of the uterus is weakened, which can easily lead to prolonged labor, and even difficult delivery, fetal birth injuries and asphyxia.
Pregnancy and childbirth itself is extremely dangerous for women, especially for advanced mothers. Of course, as an elderly mother, the pressure should not be too much, keep a happy mood, and do a good obstetric examination on time in order to have a healthy baby.