Odds of Childbirth Success

It's probably quite well known that women usually make less than men over the course of their lifetimes, and that's in large part due to taking time off to have children, and the career sacrifices one must make if one wants to raise a happy, healthy child. Thus, it's difficult for a career minded younger woman to have a stable environment, financially, in the family, and career-wise, to have a baby. So, in general, it seems better to have a baby when older. But, just to depress you, here are some great statistics from Baby Center on fertility to show that having a baby in your 20s is what biology wants you to do:

In your 20s, the stats are on your side, says leading fertility specialist Sherman Silber, director of the Infertility Center of St. Louis at St. Luke's Hospital in Missouri and author of four best-selling fertility books, including How to Get Pregnant. You have about a 25 percent chance of getting pregnant in any single ovulation cycle. Your chances of conceiving within a year of trying are about 98 percent in your early 20s and about 84 percent by your late 20s.

Only 7 percent of 20-year-old women struggle with infertility — whereas two-thirds of women over 40 have infertility problems. A 20-year-old woman has only a 6 percent chance of remaining childless, while a 40-year-old's chance of never having children is 64 percent.

A woman in her early 40s is three times as likely to have a miscarriage as a woman in her early 20s. For women 45 and older the rate leaps higher still.

As for other risks, at age 20, the risk of carrying a child with Down syndrome is one in 1295. That risk jumps to one in 759 when you're 30.

Next phase

This morning in my yoga session with the amazing Emily, I discussed with her the best way to do yoga while pregnant. While I am not yet pregnant, it is in the (relatively) near future plan, and I want to be in as good of health as possible before that happens so I don't turn into a giant blimp. A merely plump blimp will suffice, no Hindenberg, thank you very much.

My friend Kungfuramone just had a baby with his lovely wife B. They're having difficult combining breast-feeding and formula, what the correct supplement should be, and so on. This reminded me of the incredibly offensive post (guy apologized for the offensiveness later, so I guess he can be off the hook) calling the practice of parents who choose cry it out as a method of getting their kids to sleep on their own (when they're old enough to do so, of course) "child abuse." His wife is a lactation consultant up here in Seattle, and he frequently updates the parents@ list with interesting tidbits and often good advice on lactation and new mother issues.

All of this is making me both really excited and quake with fear about what the future will bring. But, I think mostly excited.

Seattle Day Out

Cute baby!

From our trip to the Dancing Paint studio on Bainbridge Island on Memorial Day:

Cooing is optional - but encouraged

I spent yesterday with K. and T. and their new little one, C. He's absolutely adorable! And, when he did spit up, as babies are wont to do, he got my head in a direct hit, but didn't get my jeans or shirt at all, so cleanup was a breeze. I do realize I was lucky.

He is just absolutely a gorgeous little baby, though. He's probably going to have thousands of pictures taken of him, at the rate we're all going. :D