The Reality of Conceiving in Your 40s

It seems like every month there is a 40+-year-old celebrity gracing the cover of a magazine holding her new baby in her perfectly sculpted arms, who is of course resting against her mommy’s remarkably flat abs. Not only does this image torture real moms who are still fighting their last fifteen pounds of baby weight, but it actually misleads women about their chances of conceiving naturally as they age. Just this past weekend I had a conversation with an extremely intelligent woman in her mid-thirties who said to me, “Brooke Shields did it—I still have time (to get pregnant naturally) right?”

Experts would say, “perhaps.” But as the years go by, your chances will fall dramatically. What the media isn’t telling you is that most celebrities in their forties had more than a little help getting pregnant. And I don’t mean from their personal trainers, yoga masters, and nutritionists.

To shed light on this issue, I spoke with one of the most experienced fertility specialists in the country: Carlene W. Elsner, M.D. of Reproductive Biological Associates (RBA), a full-service infertility treatment center in Atlanta, Georgia. Not only has Carlene helped hundreds of women get pregnant over the past thirty years, she boasts achieving the “first frozen egg baby in the world,” revolutionizing the now- common practice of freezing eggs and embryos to conceive at a later date.

Carlene has personal insight about some celebrity pregnancies. “What the public doesn’t know is that these women in their mid-to-late forties get pregnant by using donor eggs. Just because you personally may be fit and in great shape, doesn’t mean that your eggs still are.”

Hence the rub. If you are in your thirties or forties and want to have a baby, this story is for you. Perhaps you are in your mid-to-late thirties and haven’t found Mister Right yet. Perhaps you are in your forties and want to conceive with your new partner. And, sadly, maybe you or your partner are about to undergo radiation treatment for cancer and want to conceive at a later date.