More women are waiting to have children subsequently in their life.

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The royal couple is expecting their first child next bound. Getty Images

Last week Kensington Palace appear that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are expecting their beginning child.

News of the royal babe made headlines — and, with it, and then did Markle's age.

That'southward because at 37 years onetime, Markle is considered to be having a "geriatric pregnancy" — a characterization once frequently used by doctors to describe pregnancies in women over the age of 35.

Now, nevertheless, it's less likely to hear doctors throwing around the term "geriatric pregnancy," largely due to its outdated and inappropriate connotations.

It's much more common to refer to pregnant women over the age of 35 as being of "avant-garde maternal age."

The Duchess of Sussex is part of a much larger movement in which more and more women are waiting longer to have children, at least in the United States.

Between 2000 and 2014, in fact, the number of first births from women 35 years of historic period and over in the U.s. grew by 23 percent, co-ordinate to the Centers for Illness Control and Prevention.

Previous research suggests that this shift is largely due to the fact that significantly more than women have entered the workforce and are at present prioritizing their careers, higher education, and financial security.

However, as women historic period and put off having kids, their egg quality deteriorates and, consequently, their fertility declines.

This subtract kicks off around age 30 and speeds upwards around 35, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).

"When you're young and yous release an egg, the egg quality is great — about probably that egg is going to take and it's going to implant. When y'all get older, the egg quality gets much poorer," Dr. Shahin Ghadir, a board-certified OB-GYN and banana clinical professor in the section of obstetrics and gynecology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and Keck Schoolhouse of Medicine at USC, told Healthline.

The remaining eggs in older women are more likely to have abnormal chromosomes, ACOG reported.

As a result, the longer women wait to have kids, the more likely they are to run into complications.

Women of advanced maternal age take a college risk of experiencing loftier blood pressure during pregnancy — also known every bit preeclampsia — along with gestational diabetes, a condition in which the trunk doesn't produce plenty insulin to regulate sugar during pregnancy, Ghadir said.

Miscarriage, multiple pregnancy, premature birth, and cesarean commitment are more common complications too.

Furthermore, while the risk of having a baby with a chromosomal abnormality — such equally Downwards syndrome — is small, the chances of having a baby with a missing, damaged, or extra chromosome does increment with age.

Women ages 35 and over shouldn't be overly concerned, though, as many in this age bracket requite nascence to completely salubrious babies without complication.

"Trying to be the healthiest you is one of the most important things [to do] earlier anyone gets pregnant, especially if you're over 35," Ghadir said.

Don't skip out on your annual physical exam, and be certain to go your blood saccharide, blood pressure, thyroid, and uterine cavity checked prior to conceiving, Ghadir brash.

Taking prenatal vitamins such as folic acid, eating a healthy nutrition, and exercising regularly can help minimize complications likewise.

However, even the healthiest women tin see childbirth complications, which is why it'southward imperative for all women over 35 to undergo prenatal screening tests to determine their risk of having a baby with a nativity defect or genetic disorder.

If doctors suspect you may be prone to a complication or infertility, in that location are enough of handling options bachelor to aid yous get pregnant.

"Advancements in the area of maternal fetal medicine, which is also known equally high-take a chance obstetrics, have immune women with avant-garde maternal age to take successful pregnancies and advisedly monitor women during their pregnancies," Ghadir said.

For example, if infertility or genetics are an upshot, in vitro fertilization (IVF) — a procedure in which sperm is combined with a adult female's eggs in a laboratory — can help you get pregnant at whatsoever historic period.

Additionally, if y'all're well into your 30s and have no immediate plans of having children, Ghadir recommends freezing your eggs. This process allows women to harvest their salubrious eggs and store them for after apply.

Freezing your eggs at a younger age could significantly increase your chances of having a healthy, uncomplicated pregnancy later in life, he said.

Sure, pregnancies in women of avant-garde maternal age are riskier, but equally long as the pregnancy is closely monitored and well cared for, about women will exist able to requite nascency to happy, healthy babies.

Meghan Markle is part of a growing trend of women waiting until they're older to have children.

Experts say there tin be increased health risks and fertility bug, but that women shouldn't exist agape of getting significant over age 35.

Physicians and other medical experts propose women to undergo additional testing if they're over age 35 to help ensure they have a healthy child.

As more women wait until their belatedly 30s or 40s to have children, fertility experts say that freezing eggs in younger years tin can help women conceive when they're ready.