The way women think and feel about their fertility is often dependent on their age, and the experience of getting pregnant is colored by the stage in life at which we experience it. In our teens we tend to have a carefree attitude towards our fertility, and pregnancies at this age are often unplanned and unprepared for, whereas by the time we reach our early forties, a pregnancy may have taken some time to achieve and can seem more precious, but it may be overshadowed by concerns about possible risks and problems. Just as a woman's fertility changes with age, so does her experience of pregnancy and motherhood.
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| Ways To Increase Your Fertility |
Getting pregnant in your teens
Teenage pregnancy is often seen as an indicator of government failure to provide adequate education and accessible contraception to young people. Although we are all aware that getting pregnant when we are older carries medical risks, we may be less aware that there are medical risks for teenagers who get pregnant too. Teenage mothers are more likely to develop anaemia and high blood pressure, to go into labor prematurely and to have a low-birth weight baby with a greater risk of health problems.
Teenage mothers may face other social difficulties that can cause problems, along with the fact that they may not access regular antenatal care early in their pregnancies. There are also the obvious hardships of attempting to finish an education, establish a career and become financially secure while caring for a young baby.
'I was 17 when I got pregnant. We wanted it to happen but we hadn't thought it through properly. We were both really happy, but after a few weeks we were thinking, oh my God, what have we done? I've always wanted to be a mum, and I don't regret it now. By the time my son is 18, 1 am going to be 36, so I'll still have most of my life ahead of me" Fran, 20
I was 18 when I found out I was pregnant. It was a big shock. I went to my GP to talk about having an abortion, but that's as far as it went. Changing my mind was the best thing I ever did. lt was hard; there's that whole stereotype about young mums scrounging on benefits and stuff, and we were determined not to be like that. I started my nursing training when my son was two, and we've bought our own house.' Emma, 27
Getting pregnant in your twenties
Biologically, this is the ideal time to have a child. Women in their twenties are twice as likely to conceive as women in their late thirties. Your body is young, you probably have a good egg supply, you are more likely to get pregnant quickly and less likely to miscarry or have pregnancy-related problems.
However, in just about every other way, this may seem far from the best time to have a child. We still feel young in our twenties, we want to enjoy life, to travel and have fun, and we don't want to be tied down with responsibilities. We may be in full-time education and want to find a job we enjoy, to establish a career, sort out our finances and make a home for ourselves before thinking about having babies. Perhaps more vitally, many women in their twenties have yet to find a partner they feel they would like to settle down and have a child with. So when our bodies are at their reproductive peak, many of us are far from ready to make the most of this.
'I was 26 when I got pregnant. I think I'd always imagined I'd have children one day, but it certainly wasn't planned. I did miss out on some things. I don't think I have the financial stability that I would have liked ideally, and I do think perhaps I could have lived my life more fully.' Louise, 30. To find out more, you can check out Ways To Increase Your Fertility.
