Not all doom and gloom
It can be more than a little disconcerting to hear yourself described as "elderly" or "of advanced maternal age" when you only recently celebrated your 40th birthday, but, in the eyes of the obstetrical profession, that's exactly what you are.
Obstetricians don't care how young you look and feel, or whether you can still fit into the same size of jeans that you wore 20 years ago: they're concerned about the age of the eggs that are nestled away in your ovaries. And, as much as you might like to ignore this fact, the clock started ticking on those eggs more than 40 years ago.
While it's not all doom-and-gloom on the reproductive front -- the majority of women giving birth in their 40s manage to end up with healthy babies in their arms -- there is sometimes a price to be paid for postponing motherhood until later in life. Here's what you need to know when you're making the mother of all decisions -- when to start your family:
