When Suzanne Creavey takes 2-year-old Anne out and about, people often assume she’s Grandma.
“I just laugh; I’m laughing with joy. I’m never insulted,” said Creavey, 46, who had her first baby at age 20 and Anne at age 44. “With my first child, I was on the other end of the spectrum. If I can help older moms not to worry, I’d like to. Be happy about it because it’s a beautiful experience.”
Whether by choice or by surprise, more women are having babies later in life. One in five American women has a first baby after age 35, according to the March of Dimes. In 2007, about 14 percent of all births in the United States were to women over age 35, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.
Most women over age 40 have uncomplicated pregnancies and healthy babies, however, there are higher risks for older moms, making early and regular prenatal care important, said Dr. Damon Cudihy, an ob/gyn at the Center for Women’s Health, part of Holy Spirit Health System in Camp Hill.
“Women need to know that fertility rates decrease rapidly after age 40, and the risk for chromosomal abnormalities is higher,” he said. “When women are younger and making the decision to wait, they should take into account that fertility decreases and the risk of miscarriage increases with age.”
Wendy Zwally, who became a mom for the first time at age 42, sees pluses but also minuses to postponing motherhood.
“Even though my pregnancy wasn’t necessarily hard, I think I got much more tired when Joe was a baby and I was over 40, and that continues now that I’m 50,” the Monaghan Twp. resident said. “On the other hand, I’m more patient, and we’re more financially stable. I wouldn’t let your age scare you, but if you’re considering waiting to be more financially stable, for example, I wouldn’t wait.”
Zwally got pregnant on the heels of a miscarriage, she said. Though her doctors shared the risks, she recalled, they were reassuring that most older women have healthy babies.
Creavey worried a little bit about birth defects, but she worried more about how long her child would have her and her husband, John, who is now 56.
“I think of my dad, who was very healthy but who died in a tragic accident when he was 55,” said Creavey, a Carroll Twp. resident. “Every day is a blessing. You never know how many you have, and you can’t worry about that.”
The Creaveys refused all the tests that might have told them if Anne had a birth defect. “We decided right at the beginning that it wouldn’t matter,” Creavey said.
Cudihy said he sees a lot of that attitude among his patients. “In my experience, women who are not interested in an abortion are almost never interested in these tests,” he said.
Ann Zaprazny was 42 when she had her youngest child, Julia, now age 4. She recalls the pregnancy being harder physically than previous pregnancies, but she made a point of exercising, and she continued to work full time.
“I was more worried about having multiples than Down syndrome because my grandma had twins at age 40,” said Zaprazny, a Hershey resident. “I remember really worrying over that first ultrasound — not that life wouldn’t be grand with twins, but it would sure change things.”
Carol Haak, 46, who had son Quinn at age 41, said she probably worried more than with her previous three pregnancies, but she too refused any invasive tests. “I felt good and healthy, and I just put it in God’s hands that everything would be OK,” the Carroll Twp. resident said. “I’d do it again now. I’d love to think I could anyway.”
Though it took some adjusting to go back to diapers and arrange for child care, Creavey, an office manager for the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, said she thinks she and John are better parents now than they were when their other children, ages 26, 22 and 15, were born.
Being 57 and still having children at home gives you a different perspective than your peers, said Carroll Twp. resident Dora Kawate, who had her youngest of five children when she was 40.
“I think people who have kids younger are making plans for what they’ll do when it’s just them again,” she said. “When we come out the other side, we’ll be old. But it’s OK; the things that were so important to us 25 years ago aren’t so much anymore.”
Zwally’s age makes her self-conscious around other moms at school, she said. “I’m just waiting for someone to say to Joe, ‘Oh, you brought your grandma today,’” said Zwally, who works part time as a soil conservationist. “But my dad was 43 when I was born, and I actually thought it was cool because he could tell firsthand stories from ‘so long ago.’ So maybe if I’m lucky, Joe will think it’s cool.”
Haak said it was a wonderful experience for her other children, who were born close together, to experience the anticipation and birth of a younger sibling. “They all remember it, and they all helped out so much,” she said.
Older moms say having young children keeps them young at heart. “I just look at Julia, and everything in her world is fabulous. She gets joy in the basic, simple things,” Zaprazny said. “Even though I’m 46, my lenses see things through the eyes of a 4-year-old, and it’s wonderful.”
Creavey, whose husband had calculated that they will be involved in the local school system for 37 years, confessed she still worries about one thing: “When the teachers in elementary school sit us down in those little chairs, I hope I can get up,” she said.
SOURCE: pennlive
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