Facing fertility at 40 and what to expect

An increasing number of women are having babies later in life, but many face an uphill battle to get pregnant, says Helen O’Callaghan.

SHE was 43. She’d never had a baby. “I want to try everything else before I try IVF,” she told her gynaecologist.

Recalling the hopeful 40-something, Dr Mary Wingfield, consultant gynaecologist in Holles Street and clinical director of Merrion Fertility Clinic, says: “She was already 43 — she’d missed the boat for IVF.”