Are you like me, and pregnant over 40? I got pregnant just before my 42nd birthday and I’m currently 32+5 days.
Do you hate the unhealthy stigma that comes with being pregnant over 40? I do. I refused aspirin, vaccines, anomaly ultrasounds, and I’ve been going against dietary regulations and consuming daily cod liver oil and liver twice weekly, and yet my green notes has more denials than congratulations. I’ve now been forced to download the Badger Notes, which is a crap app that provides only a growth chart and regular appointment reminders. Nothing else. The staff are too lazy to write in my green notes.
It baffles me that the NHS can go along with one man’s thesis that high dosage vitamin A can cause birth defects, when I was marked down in home economics for not providing liver in the diet of a pregnant woman. My mum ate liver when she was pregnant with my mother and sister. Those of you reading this had mothers who were advised to eat liver a few times a week, and now that advice is completely eradicated, and they provide absolutely no research with what they state, just that vitamin A may lead to birth defects. It’s not good enough, and poor children in the womb need adequate nutrition for their healthy growth. Why can’t children be born healthy? Why is ill advice given to pregnant women? Why is there this emphasis that autism, for example, is special?
Sure, the NHS have their guidelines. Over 40 and you’re immediately labelled high risk. Other people can call you awful names like elderly primagravida, when one of the factors the NHS never take into account is the health of the woman over 40 who is now pregnant. Not every woman over 20 eats well and exercises, yet they won’t be labelled high risk. I hate the stigma. Not everything needs to take place with IVF. Women over 40 can conceive naturally. I believe diet plays a huge part in conception health, but there’s not much emphasis by the NHS on preparing the body for pregnancy, and then maintaining that pregnancy diet once the miracle has happened, because as Sally Fallon of Weston A Price says, “you only have one chance to get it right” – speaking about pregnancy.
I found this awesome video called Breaking the Stigma Around Pregnancy After Age 40 | Bettina Gordon-Wayne, which every pregnant over 40 woman should watch. It’s only had 92 views, yet crappy tiktok videos containing zero information can get millions of views. Videos like this are so important, especially for women like me who are naturally pregnant over 40. Bettina Gordon-Wayne has written a best selling book, The Joy of Later Motherhood
The Joy Of Later Motherhood – PDF
Stand up for your rights as a mother to be pregnant over 40. You don’t have to agree with every obstetrician / gynaecologist / midwife. You have bodily rights and autonomy. You don’t have to take the vaccines. You don’t have to take the aspirin. You don’t have to undergo blood tests or routine or anomaly ultrasounds. You can conduct your own research for yourself, which is always best because the health of your baby comes first, not NHS statistics and what they believe is best because you are pregnant over 40.
Shockingly, I met an obstetrician / gynaecologist several days ago who told me that women aged 42 having their first baby and wanting a home birth had a higher risk of needing a caesarean, and when I asked him for studies or further reading, he could not provide it to me.
I am aware that most male obstetricians / gynaecologists are against the nature of the female body in giving birth naturally, but instead want to cut women open. Shockingly, he said there was zero risk to myself or my baby, when there are massive risks to both myself and baby. If the female body could not conceive naturally, then why do these pregnancy specialists not trust a woman’s body to do the same with childbirth? It baffles me how controlling these professionals want to be in putting fear into women pregnant over 40. He made it sound like all women over 40 cannot give birth naturally. He wanted me to make an appointment for a C section right there and then, with him personally carrying out the procedure. I was shocked, yet it’s a red flag if he can state that he is 100% correct, when he can provide me with no further reading.
Same with another consultant who said there were thousands of positive studies done on Anti-D, but yet he couldn’t provide me with this reading, but instead gave me a three page leaflet on Anti-D stating that it was safe and effective, without knowing the risks of what routine Anti-D can have on the unborn child over the long term, plus it’s a blood plasma product from more than one person.
Check out the cheap under £10 supplement you can take to eliminate toxemia / preeclampsia. It certainly reduced my blood pressure, eliminated the protein in my urine, and my placenta when checked was healthy with good blood flow to baby.
I’m 32+5 weeks and my placenta is healthy, with good blood flow to the umbilical cord, and his or her head is down. Instead of the consultant saying, congratulations Helen. Your pregnancy is very healthy and this looks great for your age, instead I’m encouraged to book a C section. It’s disgraceful behaviour, and if you are like me, a woman pregnant over 40 and have faced this same stigma and fear-based information fed to you, please comment with your story and let’s raise awareness against this stigma that is taking place daily.
