Three years ago, the 47-year old rural Minnesota woman went to an herbalist to treat the first symptoms of menopause.

Instead, she got pregnant with Jack, now two years old.

It was a wonderful surprise for Marion Dressen and her husband, who were about to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary.

The couple had given up trying to have a baby long ago. After all those years, it was a bit of a shock, Dressen said.

But we were excited at the same time.

On June 28 of 2006, Dressen gave birth to Megan, selecting the name for her daughter they picked out when trying to conceive 20 years earlier.

She said she sees many advantages of being a mom in her 40s.

Being older, I hve learned what's really important in life, Dressen says. I'm more patient and I don't sweat the small stuff.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, older moms like Dressen are becoming more common.

With a toddler and a newborn, Dressen said she is glad she's fit enough to have the energy she needs.

She jokes while she can keep up with the kids, she makes some different choices than younger moms who put the kids to bed and then go out on the town.

When the kids go to bed, we go to bed, Dressen said.

Dressen said she stays active so she can maintain the physical health she'll need to be the mother of teens in her 60s.

This will help us to keep young, she laughs.

Life has changed for Dressen. She used to go on mission trips to Africa, spend time gardening and take plenty of time for herself.

I used to get up in the morning, and do my hair and makeup right away, she said. Now it's good if I get a shower some days.

Still, she says she'll trade the weeds in her garden any day for her two children.

No flower that blooms gives me the feeling of seeing these two little faces, Dressen said. It Is a change for the better.

This Pregnancy Over 40 story was found on ArgusLeaderOnline.com
Unfortunately the link no longer works.
Originally posted on June 18, 2012.
Photo credit: argusleaderonline.com - All rights reserved

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TODAY'S BOOK SUGGESTION:
The Couple's Guide To In Vitro Fertilization: Everything You Need To Know To Maximize Your Chances Of Success
by Liza Charlesworth

-- Despite the fact it is an expensive, complex, emotionally draining, and often last-ditch fertility treatment, there are now over 250,000 couples who consider in vitro fertilization (IVF) every year; more than 125,000 couples decide to undergo it.

While dry, clinical information is available, there is a gaping need for sisterly advice from someone who's been through the process herself.

From evaluating care and preparing for the complicated process to understanding egg retrieval and embryo transfer; from tips on taking medications and coping with hormonal surges to dealing with the emotional aspects of the grueling IVF process, Liza Charlesworth's The Couple's Guide to In Vitro Fertilization offers knowing, sensitive counsel.

Full of hard-won personal wisdom and the most up-to-date medical information explained in layman's terms, this invaluable guide is sure to become recommended reading for couples trying to conceive and their families alike.

Paperback: 312 pages
Click to order/for more info: The Couple's Guide To In Vitro Fertilization

After almost three decades of marriage, spent in the harrowing embrace of barrenness, and with three husbands, 52-year-old Alhaja Owolabi Kareem against all odds and human expectations not only got pregnant but also gave birth to a bouncing baby girl.

For the couple, Alhaji and Alhaja Owolabi Kareem of Ajah in the Eti Osa Local Government Area Lagos State, November 26, 2010, will forever be remembered as a day of celebration of miracles.

It was the day on which the 52-year-old Alhaja Owolabi Kareem put to bed a bouncing baby girl. It was the first in her life.

Like most women of her age, Alhaja Ajah as she is fondly called by her fellow members at the Saints Gospel Church of Christ Hand of Fire, Ago along Igando-Ikotun Road, Lagos had entered menopause. Some derisively call it meno-stop!

After being married for about 30 years and with no fruit to show for her conjugal labor, she had lost all hopes of ever having a baby but for her newfound faith.

Five years earlier, the 52-year-old businesswoman had been introduced to a new faith by a friend who had watched as she struggled desperately and in despair but in vain for a child.

Prior to this, it had been one long struggle filled with anguish, fears, tears, humiliation and even desperation.

According to Alhaja, she had visited all known hospitals and medical practitioners both orthodox and unconventional, local and foreign all to no avail.

It was after she had reached menopause and lost hope, she decided to heed her friend's advice of seeking further spiritual help at a particular worship center where she worships currently.

This Pregnancy Over 40 story was found on CompassNewspaper.com
Originally posted on December 5th, 2010.
Photo credit: CompassNewspaper.com - All rights reserved

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TODAY'S BOOK SUGGESTION:
The Infertility Cure: The Ancient Chinese Wellness Program for Getting Pregnant and Having Healthy Babies
by Randine Lewis

-- Infertility affects one out of six couples today.

Dr. Lewis presents a groundbreaking alternative approach to infertility, explaining how she used traditional Chinese medicine to treat her own infertility, successfully conceiving and giving birth to two children.

In Lewis's experience, women who have undergone three to six months of the dietary changes, herbs and acupuncture treatments become pregnant with no further effort.

Lewis intersperses her somewhat technical examination of the program with anecdotes about her patients, weaving in discussions on diet, herbal supplements, acupuncture, older women and problems related to infertility.

Paperback: 320 pages
Click to order/for more info: The Infertility Cure

ANAHEIM – To Carolyn Pelcak, age is just a state of mind.

When she wanted to have a child at 52 years old, friends and family said she was crazy.

But now that the 55-year-old waitress and lawyer has given birth Saturday to her second child, Alexandre, she counts herself among the oldest women in Orange County to have a baby.

And the single mom is loving every minute of it.

People say, 'Oh, you must be crazy. You're old enough to be a grandmother,' Pelcak said Thursday, cradling Alexandre against her chest in her Anaheim home. But the alternative is that these children wouldn't be born.

Pelcak always dreamed of having children. She married in 1987 when she was in her late 30s. She tried immediately to get pregnant but to no avail. In 1991, she and her husband decided to see a fertility specialist, first in Irvine and later in Glendale.

There, Dr. Charles March tried several times to artificially inseminate Pelcak, but it wasn't working. Her husband was giving up hope.

He said maybe we were too old, Pelcak said. But I wasn't prepared to let go of my passion. I'm not someone who gives up very easily.

Meanwhile, another dream was taking root. Pelcak wanted to be a lawyer. Her co-workers at Disneyland's exclusive Club 33, where she still works, were stunned. And her doctor said she couldn't have the baby and go to law school at the same time.

I just told him, 'I want to do both. I'm sure there's a way.'

March came up with a solution: harvest Pelcak's eggs, create embryos using her husband's sperm and freeze them until she finished law school.

And that's what she did. While her embryos sat in a bank at a hospital in Century City, Pelcak spent four years at Western State University College of Law in Fullerton.

Law school took its toll. Her marriage began to crumble while her medical bills soared. Pelcak estimates she spent more than $100,000 on fertility procedures.

After graduation, she worked to pay off her bills. She and her husband separated. But her dream of a family never died.

In 1998, after she passed the bar, Pelcak tried for a baby.

First, she miscarried. The second time, the procedure didn't take. Pelcak almost gave up, but her mother said the third time's a charm.

Thank God I listened, Pelcak said.

When a pregnant Pelcak walked into Dr. E. Michael Linzey's office at St. Joseph's Hospital in Orange, the doctor was doubtful.

I had trepidation about a 52-year-old woman having a baby, said Linzey, assistant medical director of the hospital's perinatal program.

But just by getting pregnant, Pelcak had already beaten the odds. According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, success rates for assisted reproduction drop dramatically as women age. For women under 35, more than a third of procedures result in live births. By age 41 or 42, that number drops to 10 percent.

In 2001, she gave birth to daughter Natasja through in vitro fertilization.

Her first words to Linzey while she was on the operating table: Get ready, doc, I might have another.

And once again, she did in vitro fertilization and the baby was brought to term. But mom was beginning to show early signs of preeclampsia, a hypertensive condition which can lead to illness and death in mothers and newborns.

Six months before she got pregnant again, she told me she wanted to do this, Linzey said. I took a deep breath and said, 'Are you sure, Carolyn?' But knowing this patient, and from everything, I could see there was no reason not to go ahead with it, so we did.

As for societal criticism, Pelcak is getting her share. Complete strangers tell her they're appalled that she would do such a thing.

But Pelcak, who has a friend to help with childcare, doesn't mind. I put it in God's hands. If you're meant to be a mother, you will.

[Sorry, full article is no longer available online]

Photo credit: OCregister.com
All rights reserved

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TODAY'S BOOK SUGGESTION:
Pregnancy Miracle
by Lisa Olsen

-- A 279-page, instantly downloadable e-book presenting a 5-step, sure-fire, 100% guaranteed, clinically proven holistic and ancient Chinese system for permanently reversing your infertility and your partner's infertility disorders and getting pregnant quickly, naturally and safely within 2-4 months without drugs, dangerous surgeries, side effects, or expensive infertility treatments.

It's probably the most powerful infertility reversal system ever developed, and currently the best-selling e-book of its kind on the entire Web!

Here's what the author Lisa Olson had to say about her incredible program:
After 14 years of trial, error, and experimentation, I finally discovered the answer to infertility and developed a fool-proof system to getting pregnant the natural way - no drugs, or surgery necessary.

It took a lot of research to get to where I am today, to know exactly what works and what doesn't. Yes, after desperate trial and error, countless of useless treatments, disappointments, and agony, a simple holistic system opened the door to my new and much brighter life of motherhood.

I was also excited to see that my other infertility related symptoms had diminished. After years of waiting, I was finally free from Infertility! I have become a proud mother of two.

And now I'm finally revealing my secrets in this new 'encyclopedia' of pregnancy called, Pregnancy Miracle.

I will be your own personal coach, take you by the hand, and lead you through the lousy advice, hype and gimmicks... and directly to the sort of inner balance perfection that will end your battle with infertility forever and help you become a proud mother of your healthy children.


Click to order/for more info on this helpful program:
Pregnancy Miracle

We had Eddie late in life. Bruce is 52 and I’m 48 years old.

The funny thing is, I expected people to think we were his grandparents.

Instead, I'll see people my age with a child and assume they're the parents.

I took a long time to get engaged, to get married and to come around to the idea of having children.

For a long time, I thought I didn't want any. I changed my mind.

But by that time, my body had gone to seed, like a stalk of dill, or parsley. Yellowed. Spent.

So at 45 years old, I decided to try in vitro fertilization.

My first attempt was with eggs generously donated by my sister. It didn't work.

So at 46 years old, I tried again – this time with eggs from a 20-year old ballerina.

By veteran journalist, Caren Chesler, mother at 47, author of the blog:
The Dancing Egg — An IVF Story for the Over 40 Crowd.

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TODAY'S BOOK SUGGESTION:
Fertility Wisdom: How Traditional Chinese Medicine Can Help Overcome In-fertility
-- At Wu's Healing Center in San Francisco, miracles are happening.

Women and their partners come to the clinic -- often from across the country -- to fulfill a passionately held yet fragile dream: to conceive and deliver the healthy baby that mainstream doctors have told them they cannot have.

Using traditional Chinese medical techniques, sometimes integrated with Western fertility treatments, Dr. Angela Wu is helping these couples experience the miracle of birth.

At a time when one in five U.S. couples is struggling with fertility problems, this practical and uplifting volume, filled with the inspirational stories of Dr. Wu's grateful patients, will be a godsend.

Paperback: 256 pages
Click to order/for more info: Fertility Wisdom: How Traditional Chinese Medicine Can Help Overcome In-fertility

Start reading Fertility Wisdom on your Kindle in under a minute!

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

This six-month-old bundle of joy is the most wonderful gift Pamela Butler could have ever given her daughter.

His name is Josef and, while 57-year-old Pamela has entered the record books by giving birth to the blue-eyed boy, he will always know her as Gran.

She carried him in her own womb for her daughter and son-in-law Nichola and Mathew Pagett after her daughter discovered she was unable to carry a baby.

And this overwhelming gesture of love makes her the oldest known surrogate mum in Britain today.

Pamela, from Blackwood, said: I wanted to help Nichola more than anything – it was the greatest gift I could give her.

This Pregnancy Over 40 story was found on WalesOnline.co.uk

Read more: Welsh gran becomes oldest surrogate in UK for her daughter
Originally posted on February 27, 2011.

Photo credit: WalesOnline.co.uk -- All rights reserved

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TODAY'S BOOK SUGGESTION:
What I Thought I Knew: A Memoir
by Alice Eve Cohen
--A personal and medical odyssey beyond anything most women would believe possible

At age forty-four, Alice Eve Cohen was happy for the first time in years.

After a difficult divorce, she was engaged to an inspiring man, joyfully raising her adopted daughter, and her career was blossoming. Alice tells her fiancé that she's never been happier. And then the stomach pains begin.

In her unflinchingly honest and ruefully witty voice, Alice nimbly carries us through her metamorphosis from a woman who has come to terms with infertility to one who struggles to love a heartbeat found in her womb - six months into a high-risk pregnancy.

What I Thought I Knew is a page-turner filled with vivid characters, humor, and many surprises and twists of fate.

With the suspense of a thriller and the intimacy of a diary, Cohen describes her unexpected journey through doubt, a broken medical system, and the hotly contested terrain of motherhood and family in today's society.

Timely and compelling, What I Thought I Knew will capture readers of memoirs such as Eat, Pray, Love; The Glass Castle; and A Three Dog Life.

Paperback: 208 pages
Click to order/for more info: What I Thought I Knew: A Memoir

Start reading What I Thought I Knew: A Memoir on your Kindle in under a minute!

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Photo Credit: Programmes.STV.tv -- All Rights Reserved

Juliet Le Page became Scotland's oldest mother when she gave birth at 50 years old.

Having settled down with her husband Richard, who is ten years her junior, Juliet has always been determined to have children.

I was quite a determined person, I'd met my husband and thought 'I really want to have a family with this man', Juliet said.

I was pretty sure I wasn't able to conceive naturally, so it had to be some form of assisted conception.

The proportion of women in the UK having children in their forties is the highest it has been in decades.

Fertility rates for women aged 30 and over has gradually increased since 1980, with more women having children between 30 and 34 than those aged 25-29 since 2002.

This Pregnancy Over 40 story was found on Scotsman.com
Read more: Joy of Scotland's oldest mother, aged 50
Originally posted on November 27, 2008

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TODAY'S BOOK SUGGESTION:
Right Time Baby: The Complete Guide to Later Motherhood and Pregnancy
by Claudia Spahr

-- There couldn't be a better time for motherhood than after you've explored some of your own dreams and ambitions.

Studies show later mothers to be more secure emotionally and financially than younger mothers and nearly a quarter of all women in the UK are now having babies after 35.

Packed full of useful tips from top medical experts, scientists and world authorities, including Dr. Michel Odent and Dr. Marilyn Glenville, this book is a complete guide for the woman who's lived a life before giving birth.

It covers: preparing for pregnancy and motherhood; how to improve egg quality and prolong fertility so you can get pregnant naturally; exercises, relaxation techniques, mind-body connection for conception; how to increase your chances of success at IVF; making the most of your pregnancy, month by month; ways to avoid pregnancy loss; pregnancy yoga and natural remedies for common pregnancy ailments; how to have the best birth possible; from me to mum - adjusting to lack of sleep, relationship changes and that other job; parenting secrets and concepts from around the globe to inspire new mothers; and, the latest research in neuroscience, nutrition and psychology.

Get ready to embrace the biggest, most exciting transition of your life!

Paperback: 320 pages
Click to order/for more info: Right Time Baby

Start reading Right Time Baby on your Kindle in under a minute!

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

A 72-year-old woman who has two children and five grandchildren has given birth to twins, making her the world's oldest mother.

Omkari Panwar delivered twins, a boy and a girl, by Caesarean section last week.

I am very happy, Charam Singh, 75, the father of the twins, told ABC News through an interpreter.

Singh was reluctant to speak because he has received negative publicity for his wife's having children at such an advanced age.

Even many people of his village in India's state of Uttar Pradesh haven't supported the decision. Still, he and his wife are happy.

The desire for a male child has always been there, but God did not bless us with a male child, he said of the son who is a product of in-vitro fertilization.

Now, we are very grateful to God, who has answered our prayers.

This Pregnancy Over 40 story was found on ABCnews.go.com
Read more: World's Oldest Mom
Originally posted on July 4, 2008.

Photo credit: ABCnews.go.com
All rights reserved

---

TODAY'S BOOK SUGGESTION:
Pregnancy Miracle
by Lisa Olsen

-- A 279-page, instantly downloadable e-book presenting a 5-step, sure-fire, 100% guaranteed, clinically proven holistic and ancient Chinese system for permanently reversing your infertility and your partner's infertility disorders and getting pregnant quickly, naturally and safely within 2-4 months without drugs, dangerous surgeries, side effects, or expensive infertility treatments.

It's probably the most powerful infertility reversal system ever developed, and currently the best-selling e-book of its kind on the entire Web!

Here's what the author Lisa Olson had to say about her incredible program:
After 14 years of trial, error, and experimentation, I finally discovered the answer to infertility and developed a fool-proof system to getting pregnant the natural way - no drugs, or surgery necessary.

It took a lot of research to get to where I am today, to know exactly what works and what doesn't. Yes, after desperate trial and error, countless of useless treatments, disappointments, and agony, a simple holistic system opened the door to my new and much brighter life of motherhood.

I was also excited to see that my other infertility related symptoms had diminished. After years of waiting, I was finally free from Infertility! I have become a proud mother of two.

And now I'm finally revealing my secrets in this new 'encyclopedia' of pregnancy called, Pregnancy Miracle.

I will be your own personal coach, take you by the hand, and lead you through the lousy advice, hype and gimmicks... and directly to the sort of inner balance perfection that will end your battle with infertility forever and help you become a proud mother of your healthy children.


Click to order/for more info on this helpful program:
Pregnancy Miracle

Photo credit: Dailymail.co.uk - All rights reserved

July 16, 1969 - Suddenly I'm young again, grandmother Mrs. Joanna Du Plessis said today.

Mrs. Du Plessis, 58 years old, gave birth to a 5 lb. baby girl on Tuesday.

She said she had to borrow dolls clothes from one of her ten grandchildren to dress the baby because she did not know until three hours before the birth she was pregnant.

Mrs. Du Plessis became the oldest woman on record to have a child.

The Guinness Book of Records said the oldest woman previously to give birth was American Mrs. Roth Kitler who had a daughter in 1956 at the age of 57.

Mrs. Du Plessis told reporters her husband had wept for joy when he saw the baby, called Magda.

It was his first child, she said.

This Pregnancy Over 40 story was found on The Age
Read more: Oldest Mother Did Not Know
Originally posted on July 17, 1969.

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TODAY'S BOOK SUGGESTION:
The New Fertility Diet Guide: Delicious Food Secrets To Help You Get Pregnant Faster At Any Age
by Niels H. Lauersen and Colette Bouchez

-- The best selling authors of Getting Pregnant: What You Need To Know Now share new secrets to using specific foods and food combinations to greatly enhance your chance of getting pregnant fast and easy.

Tested on hundreds of couples, this unique new natural way to increase fertility can work regardless of your age or reproductive status.

Studies show it can even increase your IVF success rate!

Delicious, nutritious and easy to follow, this secret food plan works for both women and men to not only help increase fertility but also improve overall health and encourage conception of a healthier baby!

Paperback: 184 pages
Click to order/for more info: The New Fertility Diet Guide

Start reading The New Fertility Diet Guide on your Kindle in under a minute!

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Ann Conlon-Smith, a mother in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA who lost a lot of blood after her cesarean delivery of twins at the age of 47, found herself with a low milk supply that lagged for three months.

It was an awful time and I was terrified - I didn't know if I was 'too old to breastfeed' or just what had happened. I used lots of milk bank milk, pumped continuously, and put the babies to breast all day and all night.

Many factors can affect milk supply, including conditions such as hypertension, anemia, and severe postpartum bleeding.

Nonetheless, with hard work, good guidance and support, and lots of patience, an older mother will, in most cases, be able to build up her milk supply.

Determined for her twins to receive no less than their singleton siblings did, Ann persevered and her milk supply did improve.

While she and her family were grieving deeply and endlessly the drowning death of her two-year-old son, Gregory, Ann Conlon-Smith recalls how desperately she wanted one more child.

I had no idea that suddenly I would no longer be able to become pregnant, when four times previously, I got pregnancy exactly when I wanted to, and even when I did not intend to!

I wish my doctor had told me that because of my advanced age (46) I might need to work with a reproductive endocrinologist or fertility clinic. We finally did just that and conceived our precious twins.

Reflecting on the eventual weaning of the last children she intends to have, Ann states, I wonder what it will be like to miss seeing their eyelids flutter and close in rest and to feel that deep relaxation and rest that I never feel in any other way. I think I will always miss it.

It will remain the most cherished memory of my young children's lives and their connection to me.

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TODAY'S BOOK SUGGESTION:
The Fertility Code
by Dermot O'Connor
-- The Fertility Code program delivers a powerful and practical step-by-step approach for those who wish to give themselves the best chance of starting a family.

As many as 500,000 couples in the UK and Ireland actively seek help with fertility, such as IVF treatment each year. While some are legitimate candidates, many have been proven to just need proper lifestyle and fertility advice and assistance in order to conceive.

The Fertility Code is designed for these people, and for those who need more serious intervention, to optimize their fertility. There are a variety of factors that can contribute to preventing a couple from having a baby.

This is why it is important that a fertility plan should address as many of these potential issues as possible. Through many years' experience of helping thousands of couples to become parents, Dermot O'Connor knows that such a plan must be easy to understand, easy to implement and genuinely effective.

The Fertility Code combines the best of both Eastern and Western medicine to provide a comprehensive guide to conceiving successfully and carrying a baby to full term.
It details the optimum plan to enhance fertility, and delivers a proven strategy, incorporating the key elements consistently utilized by the couples Dermot has helped:

• Fertility Awareness Strategies
• The psychology of fertility
• Optimum nutrition for conception and pregnancy
• The importance of detoxification

Paperback: 224 pages
Click to order/for more info: The Fertility Code

Start reading The Fertility Code on your Kindle in under a minute!

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.