How to Have Children at Menopause

Because of medical advances and reproductive technologies, it is now possible for women in their 50s, 60s--and in one case even in her 70s--to become pregnant and give birth to healthy babies. Post-menopausal pregnancy (or PMP) is controversial as pundits wonder whether late-in-life births are ethical, but the point is to give women more options over their reproductive lives. Women have more choices in deciding when to start families or when to have more children.

Instructions

• 1

  Go to a fertility clinic. A woman who has gone through menopause can only become pregnant with the help of fertility specialists and modern technology. There is much a doctor can do to improve a woman's chances of becoming pregnant. Menopause is the end of the menstrual cycle and of fertility. But the uterus is still functioning and is able to carry a child to term.

• 2

  Choose an egg donor. Once a woman reaches menopause, she is no longer producing eggs. Without eggs there can be no pregnancy or birth. Unless a woman had some of her eggs frozen prior to menopause, she will need an egg donation to become pregnant. A paper published at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem states, "The availability of IVF [in vitro fertilization] technology and oocyte [egg] donation [are] both necessary for PMP." Many healthy, young women donate their eggs for the money they earn. The egg donor is genetically connected to the fetus, but the woman carrying the baby has an emotional connection. Egg donation is a surgical procedure.

• 3

  Choose a sperm donor. If a woman is married or has a male partner, his sperm can be used to fertilize the egg. Men remain fertile throughout their lives. If the woman has no male partner, she can use a sperm bank. Many fertility centers offer sperm donor services as well.

• 4

  Use in vitro fertilization. In a laboratory setting, a doctor places the egg cells and the sperm cells in a glass dish to fertilize the egg. Once the eggs are fertilized they are put in an incubator for 48 to 72 hours so the cells can grow into an embryo, per E-Medicine Health.

• 5

  Have preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) performed. PGD tests your embryos before they are implanted to ensure that they are viable and free of chromosomal abnormalities.

• 6

  Implant the embryo. Once the embryos are strong enough, the doctor implants them into the uterus of the post-menopausal woman. This is done through the cervix using a catheter. Doctors may implant many embryos to increase the changes of a pregnancy. But this method also increases the likelihood of multiple births. Not all in vitro procedures are successful. The older a woman is the less like there will be a full-term pregnancy. But the in vitro treatment can be repeated. Costs for each treatment vary from $10,000 to $25,000.

• 7

  Wait two weeks. A woman is given certain hormones for the next two weeks post-implantation. If implantation works and the egg(s) attach to the uterine wall and grow then the pregnancy test shows a positive result.