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By The Time You’re 30, Here’s What You Should Know About Your Fertility

Many individuals are having their first child later in life than in previous generations. Therefore, it’s important for people to understand the timeline of their fertility.

In the U.S, the average age that a woman has her first child is 26, up a full five years from the average age of 21 in 1972. A growing percentage of women are choosing to wait to have children until their 30s. This is influenced by factors including demanding careers, longer times spent in college or graduate school, or getting married at a later age.

By the time you’re 30 or 35, what do you need to know about your ability to conceive and have a healthy pregnancy?

Below we’ll look at how hormones, egg count and quality, and other factors involved in reproduction change once you’re in your 30s. We’ll also cover fertility treatments most often recommended for those over the age of 35 and cover the basics of freezing your eggs.

Fertility In Your 30’s

If you recall learning about reproduction in high school biology class, you may remember that women are born with all of their eggs. Unlike men who continuously make sperm throughout their lives, women don’t make any new eggs over time. Therefore, the quantity and quality of a person’s eggs start to diminish the older they get, starting from a young age.

According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, “Peak reproductive years are between the late teens and late 20s. By age 30, fertility (the ability to get pregnant) starts to decline. This decline becomes more rapid once you reach your mid-30s.”

By the age of 45, the average person’s ability to get pregnant naturally has substantially decreased, to the extent that they’re very unlikely to get pregnant without any intervention.

“Ovarian reserve” refers to the number of healthy, normal eggs that a woman has left inside her two ovaries. This number decreases with age. Having “diminished ovarian reserve” becomes more likely in a person’s 30s, indicating that reproductive potential is lower based on the number and quality of eggs left.

Not only does the quantity of eggs decrease over time, but egg quality also diminishes as a person gets older; remaining eggs in older women are more likely to have abnormal chromosomes compared to eggs in those that are younger.

Changing hormones and pre-existing conditions are two other fertility factors to consider during your 30s. Women in their mid to late 30s have a higher risk of having disorders that can affect a healthy pregnancy, such as uterine fibroids, ovarian cysts, endometriosis, and pelvic inflammatory disease.

Levels of estrogen, the key hormone that controls a menstrual cycle, start to decrease in your mid-30s, resulting in less regular ovulation and irregular periods. Estrogen does not control the menstrual cycle. I would say something like the incidence of ovulation dysfunction increases as we age, resulting in fewer ovulatory cycles per year and irregular periods. Some women enter perimenopause (the stage prior to menopause) as soon as their late 30s, which can make conception less likely.

Finally, although it’s usually only temporary, past birth control use can also impact fertility, especially birth control forms such as injectables/shots. It can sometimes take up to 18 months for ovulation to resume once stopping birth control injections, which is something to take into account if you currently use birth control and wish to get pregnant in the near future.

Success Rates of Getting Pregnant

The average 30-year-old woman without any preexisting reproductive conditions has about a 20% chance of getting pregnant each month. In comparison, someone in their 20s has an even greater chance, about 25% per month.

By the time a woman reaches 40, the success rate of getting pregnant naturally drops to about 5% per month, meaning about one or two out of 10 would be able to get pregnant each month when actively trying to conceive.

Once an individual reaches their mid-30s, the older they get, the higher the risk of having a miscarriage or having a baby with fetal abnormalities. It’s estimated that about 15% of pregnancies in those under 35 result in miscarriage, but this number increases up to 25% to 50% if the person is between 39 and 44 years old.

Other factors to consider are the increased likelihood of chromosomal abnormalities, including Down syndrome, the most common chromosome problem that occurs among women who have children in their 40s. Down syndrome affects about 1 in 85 fetuses if the mom is 40 or about 1 in 35 if the mom is 45.

There are also increased maternal risks involved in having a baby at a later age, including preeclampsia (high blood pressure during pregnancy that can lead to organ injury). Older people pursuing pregnancy also have a higher chance of having twins/multiple pregnancies since the ovaries are more likely to release more than one egg per month.

Fertility Treatments Available

Tracking Your Cycle

If you’re in your 30s and trying to conceive, first start by tracking your menstrual cycles to get an understanding of how regular your periods are and when you’re most likely ovulating.

You can use any number of fertility apps on your phone to help you track your cycles, plus ovulation strips to help you pinpoint which days are best for having sex (a strip will turn positive 24 to 36 hours before ovulation, indicating to have sex at that time).

Additionally, you can monitor changes in your cervical mucus and basal body temperature to determine if and when you ovulated, which is helpful for predicting the following month’s cycle.

Visiting A Reproductive Endocrinologist (REI)

If you haven’t conceived on your own after trying for 6 to 12 months, it’s best to visit a healthcare provider for help with an infertility evaluation.

How long should you wait before seeking professional help?

Once you’re in your mid-30s, it’s recommended that you meet with a Reproductive Endocrinologist (REI) sooner rather than later. The recommended point is after about 6 months of trying on your own. REI fertility specialists can help pinpoint any fertility issues that may make conception more challenging.

REIs perform extensive exams and tests to uncover the full picture of a patient’s reproductive health, including a pelvic ultrasound (which can spot issues such as endometriosis or ovarian cysts), tubal evaluation, ovarian reserve testing, hormonal panel tests, and semen analysis for a partner.

Based on test results, your REI can help you decide which treatment options are most likely to be successful. Treatment for infertility, including if it’s related to advanced age, always depends on the individual case, as there are many potential pathways to having a successful pregnancy.

Potential fertility treatments that may be used to help you get pregnant in your 30s or 40s include IUI (most often for women under 35), IVF, or use of donor eggs, donor sperm, or possibly a gestational carrier (surrogate) if necessary.

Assisted reproductive technologies, including in vitro fertilization (IVF), can help with a variety of infertility causes that come into play in your late 30s or 40s, such as damaged or absent fallopian tubes, genetic abnormalities of embryos, low ovarian count, or a partner with low sperm quantity or quality.

Your REI can also perform prenatal and diagnostic screening tests, both before you become pregnant and once you’re pregnant, to assess the risk of birth defects or genetic disorders, including those that are more common in later-age pregnancies.

Keep in mind that no matter how you plan to become pregnant, and no matter the age, it’s important to take care of your body holistically — by maintaining a healthy weight, eating a nutrient-dense diet, quitting smoking, exercising enough, and managing stress.

Freezing Your Eggs

Egg freezing (fertility preservation) may be a good option for women in their 30s if they want to build their families later in life.

Also called oocyte cryopreservation, egg freezing essentially pauses the progression of chromosomal abnormalities that eggs experience past a certain age. This option allows women to preserve higher-quality eggs that are more likely to be chromosomally normal so that they can get pregnant at a later age through IVF.

Egg freezing can result in a lower risk of miscarriage and a lower risk of Down’s syndrome. One drawback is that it can be expensive and somewhat invasive, considering it involves many of the same medications and steps as IVF; however more employers and insurance companies are beginning to cover some costs of egg freezing.

If egg freezing seems like it may be a good fit for you, speak with your OB-GYN or an REI to discuss your future family building plans and next steps that will help you prepare as best as possible.

Going through fertility treatment, you may wonder about the best path to self-care during IVF, especially as embryo transfer day approaches. You may be worried about what effect your actions can have on the process, and you want to make sure you do everything in your power to ensure success. The good news is that caring for yourself before and after your embryo transfer procedure isn’t complicated.

Here are ten simple tips for taking care of yourself during this exciting time.

1. Eat a Healthy Diet and Stay Hydrated

If you already eat wholesome meals, keep it up. Now is the time to cut down on sweets, reduce alcohol, and add more fruits, vegetables, and lean protein. There’s no “embryo transfer diet” to follow, but eating as if you’re already pregnant is a good idea. Drinking fluids is also crucial since proper hydration is essential to optimal cell functioning. You want your body to be in optimal condition.

2. Take a Prenatal Vitamin (and Make Sure You Get Enough Folic Acid)

Now is a good time to start taking a prenatal vitamin — following your doctor’s instructions. If you’re taking an over-the-counter prenatal rather than a prescription brand, ensure that it includes DHA omega 3, vitamin D, calcium, and folic acid. While most prenatal vitamins contain adequate amounts of folic acid, your doctor may recommend an additional supplement. Folic acid helps prevent neural tube defects in your baby and may also reduce the risk of heart defects.

3. Avoid Chemical Exposure from Everyday Sources

Modern life is full of products containing endocrine-disrupting chemicals or EDCs. These chemicals may interfere with your hormones, and some can cross the placenta and build up in your unborn baby’s bloodstream, causing developmental issues. Become a label reader and avoid products that contain the following:

• Bisphenol A (BPA, common in plastics)
• Phthalates
• Parabens (common in cleaning and personal care products such as shampoo)
• Triclosan (found in anti-bacterial products).

Avoid EDCs both before and after embryo transfer or, better yet, cut them out of your life entirely.

4. Take it Easy on Transfer Day and Immediately After

While there’s certainly no need for bed rest (the embryo isn’t going to fall out, after all), relaxing and pampering yourself on embryo transfer day and for a couple of days after is a good idea. This is as much for psychological and emotional reasons as for physical ones; post-transfer days can be an emotional rollercoaster, and rest, relaxation, and pampering can go a long way toward reducing stress.

5. Relax — but Not in the Hot Tub

While pampering yourself in the days after an embryo transfer can be good for your mental and physical health, avoid the sauna or jacuzzi, and pass on a long soak in a hot bath for a few days. Some research suggests that activities that elevate your core temperature might interfere with implantation. Just to be safe, stick to showers or warm baths rather than turning up the heat.

6. Keep Taking Your Medications

Unless your doctor advises you differently, continue taking your prescribed medication. Progesterone is vital as it helps the embryo implant and ensures it stays implanted. Don’t stop any medicines unless your doctor recommends a break.

7. Abstain from Sex Until Your Doctor Okays It

If your doctor has suggested that you refrain from sexual intercourse for a short time after the embryo is transferred, you may wonder why. The answer? Sex can cause uterine contractions. This can affect the embryo’s ability to implant and, in a worst-case scenario, could theoretically lead to a miscarriage. Most experts agree that abstaining from sex for 10 to 14 days is sufficient.

8. Pay Attention to Your Body

You know your body best, so pay close attention to what it’s telling you. If anything feels wrong or “off,” inform your doctor immediately. There’s probably nothing to be concerned about, but a quick consultation can relieve your mind.

If you’ve been taking fertility drugs, keep your eye out for the following symptoms:

• Sudden weight gain
• Abdominal pain
• Bloating
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea

These can be symptoms of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome or OHSS, and it’s important to let your doctor know immediately.

9. Don’t Rush Out and Buy a Pregnancy Test

Taking a pregnancy test too early isn’t a good idea, no matter how tempting it may be. Pregnancy tests measure the amount of pregnancy hormone in your urine, and it takes some time for this hormone to build up to measurable levels. You might get a false-negative or even a false-positive result if you take a test too soon. So, settle in with a stack of good books, binge-watch Netflix, or find another way to pass the time until your scheduled pregnancy test with your fertility doctor.

10. Use Stress-Reduction Tools to Make the Wait Easier

Finally, do what you can to de-stress while you’re waiting. This is a good time to sign up for meditation, a beginner’s yoga class, or embark on a stress-reduction course.

The Takeaway

The time before and after your embryo transfer can be a template for how you plan to advance during your pregnancy. Forming good habits now and learning to care for yourself with compassion can create a firm foundation to build on in the future. If you’re just starting your fertility journey, if you have questions, or if you simply want to learn more, we can help.

Contact Reproductive Gynecology and Infertility today and speak to one of our fertility experts.

Fertility treatments such as in-vitro fertilization and egg donation (egg donor IVF or donor egg IVF) allow many individuals and couples to start or expand their family size regardless of their fertility and health status. A 2016 Center for Disease Control and Prevention survey revealed that donor eggs were used in 24,300 Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART) cycles.

Although the success rate of donor egg IVF procedures varies, the average success rate of live births utilizing this procedure is 49-50%. Your odds of succeeding in using donor eggs are higher when you follow specific steps and consult a fertility specialist. Our team has compiled a few guidelines to help you with the donor egg IVF procedure.

This article will teach you more about egg donor IVF, the process of how donor eggs and IVF work, and the procedure’s benefits and success rates.

What is Egg Donation?

Egg donation is the process in which a donor (female) contributes her eggs to a recipient for conception purposes. At RGI, our egg donors undergo thorough physical and psychological screenings. These screening tests help to ascertain the egg donor’s health status and suitability for the egg donation journey before matching with recipients.

After an egg donor passes the critical screening steps to confirm their eligibility, she will undergo the process to retrieve eggs. First, the donor will take medication to stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple eggs. Egg donors then undergo an egg retrieval to obtain the eggs available for use by another individual or couple.

Eventually, the eggs are fertilized in the lab through in vitro fertilization. In vitro fertilization is the process in which the eggs are exposed to sperm resulting in the development of an embryo in a culture medium in the laboratory. This embryo will then be placed in the recipient’s uterus to result in pregnancy.

Who Benefits From Egg Donation/Donor Egg?

The egg donation process is suitable for individuals and couples who want to start a family but cannot for various reasons.

The egg donation process is recommended in the following clinical cases:

• older females with infertility
• single males who have a gestational carrier (surrogate)
• gay male couples
• those with a high risk of transmitting a genetic disease
• females with low ovarian reserves and primary ovarian insufficiency
• females with damaged ovaries due to cancer treatment
• unexplained recurrent IVF failure

Apart from these indications, the fertility doctor will evaluate your unique health needs to determine if you will benefit from egg donation.

What Is the Process of Egg Donation?

Pre-donation Screening

Fertility doctors use specific guidelines stipulated by the law to screen egg donors in a fertility clinic. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines recommend the following screening procedures for egg donors:

The egg donation process occurs in phases and has both medical and legal procedures to protect the donor and recipient. Here are the typical steps of the egg donation process.

• formal application
• in-person or phone interview
• clinical and psychological history to discover the donor’s medical and family history
• physical examination
• blood tests such as HIV, etc, for infectious disease screening
• drug tests
• ultrasound scan to examine the female reproductive organs
• genetic testing to screen for inherited disease

These screening procedures help to confirm the eligibility and health status of the prospective egg donor.

Legal Procedure

The law regulates the egg donation process and helps to protect both parties involved. Generally, the donor and recipient may opt for legal counsel before the egg donation process. Sometimes, a lawyer helps mediate the legal procedures, such as verifying and witnessing contract signing. For instance, some egg donation clinics require all donors to sign a contract. This contract will typically state that the donors do not have any legal rights or responsibilities to a child resulting from the process.

The Treatment Phase

The fertility specialist will use specific fertility drugs to prepare the egg donor. While on these medications, fertility experts monitor the donor closely, stimulating her ovaries to make several eggs in a single cycle. Once the ovaries appear ready, a medication to induce the maturity of the eggs is administered at a precise time relative to the egg retrieval procedure. During this phase, egg donors remain abstinent from sexual intercourse to eliminate pregnancy risk for the egg donor.

Egg Retrieval

On the retrieval day, the donor will receive anesthesia medications, often through the IV. Then the doctor will use ultrasound guidance to insert a needle through the vagina and into the ovary to extract the eggs from the matured follicles. Extracted eggs are cryopreserved until they are used by a recipient for in vitro fertilization.

How Do Donor Eggs and IVF Work?

The in vitro fertilization process takes place after eggs are retrieved from the donor. The sperm donor or intended parent will provide the semen specimen, which will be used to fertilize the mature eggs.

Fertilization can occur in two ways;

• Conventional insemination: Healthy matured eggs are exposed to sperm cells in the culture medium to allow fertilization.
• Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). In ICSI, a sperm cell is injected directly into each mature egg. ICSI is ideal for clinical cases of low sperm count or repeated history of failed IVF.

After successful fertilization, the embryo grows in the culture medium in the lab. The fertility expert transfers the embryo into the intended parent or gestational carrier’s uterus for implantation.

How Much Do Donor Eggs and IVF Cost?

The cost of egg donation varies depending on the source of the donor eggs. Couples can get egg donors from the following sources:

• Egg donor agencies: These are specialized commercial egg donation agencies that recruit, screen, and match healthy egg donors with interested couples.
• Infertility clinics: Some have a bank of frozen eggs harvested from past clients.
• Specific individuals: A couple can choose a close relative or friend as their egg donor.

The cost of the invitro fertilization process differs for each fertility clinic. The average cost of egg donation will range between $10,000- $15,000. This could be more if it is a fresh egg donation process versus frozen donor eggs, which are typically less expensive.

According to the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, the average cost for one in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle is more than $12,000. This cost is in addition to the cost of an egg donor.

What Are the Success Rates of Donor Egg + IVF?

The success rate of egg donation and in vitro fertilization differs from clinic to clinic. The recent Center for Disease Control fertility report states that close to 50% of donor eggs and in vitro fertilization result in a live birth.

The success rate of egg donation and IVF also depends on the following:

• egg donor’s age
• extraction process
• quality of sperm,
• recipient’s health status

Hence, it is important to consult a fertility expert with a proven track record of successful egg donation and IVF.

Do You Need Help With Egg Donation and IVF?

Egg donation and IVF help couples to start or expand their family size regardless of their health or fertility status. Egg donation and IVF are safe and suitable for LBGTQ+ couples and heterosexual couples struggling with fertility. The egg donation process involves multiple steps and requires expert guidance from an experienced team of fertility experts.

At Reproductive Gynecology and Infertility, we have years of experience helping build families through IVF and donor eggs. Our state-of-the-art IVF technology solution has helped partners achieve their dreams of having a beautiful family.

We have a team of industry-leading fertility physicians and assisted reproductive technology professionals to assist you. Schedule an appointment with us to get started on your family-building journey.