RETHINKING FERTILITY

TICK. TICK. TICK.

If you, like me, are a woman in her childbearing years, you may recognise that sound as your biological clock. The noise isn’t so bad in your mid-to-late 20s, maybe a faint hum. But once you turn 30, the volume gradually turns up and if you’re anywhere around the age of 35, the ticking might have turned into a booming echo that drowns out a lot of other stuff.

It’s a still-common belief for many women that they need to have their reproductive life figured out before the big 3-5, out of fear that their ability to get pregnant and stay pregnant will take a massive hit and only get grimmer from there. That age has been referred to as the “fertility cliff”, by medical experts, articles, you name it. Anyone who is 35-plus is considered to be of “advanced maternal age” and experiences a “geriatric pregnancy” in medical terms. Indeed, many women structure their