Am I too old to have a baby?

[too-old?]

I'm in my late 40's and have been unlucky in love until a year ago. I've now settled down with a wonderful man, who's in his late 30's, and we now would love to have a baby together. But, I'm worried that I'm too old and even if I could conceive naturally whether I would actually get pregnant. I did stop taking the contraceptive pill about 6 months ago, and so far no luck. I do know that levels of fertility decrease quite drastically as you get older. What do you think my chances of conceiving natrually are? Or should I be considering treatment to increase my chances? I really don't want to let my partner down and would dearly love to have a baby with him but I had resigned myself to never having children and now I'm worried it's too late. I know I have to act fast as time is running out - or could have run out already.

Any help you can give me would be very much appreciated. If it's all too late I need to think about letting my partner down gently and dealing with the future.

[Infertility Network UK]

Hi There

Well, we don’t choose who we fall in love with and at what age! Why don’t you make an appointment to see your GP and ask him/her to do some blood tests to see whether your hormones are still OK to get pregnant naturally? As you already realise your fertility will be decreasing quite quickly now, so you will only have a very small chance, if at all using your own eggs. Should this be the case, then there might be the option of using an egg donor, when your success rate would reflect more on the age of the donor and not your own. Obviously, such a decision would not be taken lightly, and it would be recommended to speak with an implications counsellor along with your partner, to talk over the process before undertaking such a move.