40 and first pregnancy

Quote:

Originally Posted by Herbie2010

Hi all. This may sound mad. Im almost 40 years old first pregnancy and smoked since I was 16' quit while pregnant. Im exhausted with worry, googling etc because im convinced im high risk for breast cancer as I've read smoking before first pregnancy increases and im smoking most my life. Sorry if this sounds daft. I really want to enjoy my pregnancy but cant:weep: Would like to know anyone in same situation. Xx

Well, I had a baby at 40. He was my third. He's now 4. My other two children were born in my teens, so they were already grown up by the time I got pregnant with him. In fact, I was already a grandmother.
Certainly I had a lot of health concerns, due to my older age, and a lot of concerns about birth defects and such.
But i refused amniocentecis and all other testing to detect birth defects, since i didn't really want to know.
The pregnancy was healthy and uneventful (other than some slight unexplained spotting at around three months, which scared me to death but resolved on its own), the delivery was my easiest one out of the three, and my baby was fine and healthy, and still is.
I do believe that SOME of what you read about pregnancy at an older age is exaggerated. Sure, there are some increased risks, but I know so many women who delivered at 40 or older, and they were all fine. Their children are fine.
The odds are in your favor.
If your body was healthy enough to conceive, it is likely healthy enough to carry to term and produce healthy offspring. That just makes sense, from a biological perspective.
I wish you luck, and please keep us posted on your pregnancy.

PS- What REALLY helped me was my doctor's attitude. I went in to my first appointment expecting a bunch of grim warnings about my age, etc. But after examining me, he simply congratulated me on my pregnancy and said, "This is going to be fun!"
And you know what? It was. It was a great adventure.
Best wishes.

PPS- pregnancy actually greatly decreases your risk for breast cancer, so congratulations on that, as well.