Fashion designer Collette Dinnigan considers herself “very very lucky” to be expecting her second child at age 46, but wants to warn other women not to leave pregnancy so late.
Dinnigan, who will be 47 when her son is due in November, underwent years of IVF treatments with her husband Bradley Cocks, 36, before falling pregnant after switching to “a more natural approach” she told Sunday Life magazine.
Related: 48-year-old mum of 10 expecting quintuplets
She told the magazine she thought she was invincible in her 30s, not thinking that she would have to rely on assisted reproductive treatments which have caused her and so many other older hopeful parents much heartache.
“In my 30s, I didn’t even realise that women’s eggs aged,” she said.
“You have a career, life slips by and suddenly you’re 40.”
She urged older women not to take the chance of trying to have children later in life.
“We might just be very, very lucky,” she said. “We are thrilled. You can’t expect to have a child at this age. We’re blessed.”
According to IVF Australia’s medical director Associate Professor Peter Illingworth, Dinnigan is lucky indeed, with the chance of a 46-year-old woman falling pregnancy either naturally or via IVF with her own eggs only one percent.
Related: I had a baby at 50 — without IVF
Even then, the chance of miscarriage greatly increases with age. The miscarriage rate for women aged 40 and over is 25 percent, jumping to 50 percent for women aged 45 and over.
“I completely agree with Collette Dinnigan,” Professor Illingworth said.
“We recommend that women should try to start a family as soon as they are in a position to do so.”
Your say: Do you think women who want children should be mindful of their age?
Video: IVF designer babies
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