Supermodel Gisele Bündchen is reportedly expecting a child with her boyfriend, jiu-jitsu instructor, Joaquim Valente.
At 44-years-old, she has two children (14 and 11 years old) with football superstar and ex-husband Tom Brady, and this will be her first with her 35-year-old current partner.
The Brazilian bombshell has long been a figurehead in the wellness community, and is looked toward for her health and fitness tips. Still, doctors and medical organizations caution getting pregnant over the age of 40 as it can come with increased risks for both mom and baby.
Fertility takes a sharp dip in a woman’s 40s – one in four women in their 20s and 30s are able to get pregnant in one menstrual cycle, compared to just one in 10 in their 40s.
Not only is it harder to become pregnant, but a woman 40 and older may be at higher risk for developing certain pregnancy complications, including pre-eclampsia, a condition in which high blood pressure during pregnancy becomes life threatening.
They are also more likely to give birth to children with birth defects like down syndrome.
Laura Morton, 60, and Rosanne Austin, 50, both gave birth to their children just shy of 44 years old.
They told DailyMail.com while having a baby over 40 can come with some unfortunate judgement from others – it’s also a rewarding experience. The hardest part, they added, was getting pregnant in the first place.
Gisele Bündchen, 44, is planning to welcome her third child. She’s pictured here before her pregnancy in 2023 in New York City
Bündchen shares two children with football superstar and ex-husband Tom Brady. The two finalized their divorce in October 2022
Austin said: ‘I would encourage [Giselle] to ignore the statistics. You know, be aware of them, but focus more on her personal health and her unique circumstances.
‘She has access to the kind of care that a lot of people don’t, so she’s very well positioned to have an uneventful, perfectly glorious pregnancy.’
Austin, now 50, is a California attorney and life coach. She gave birth to her son shortly before turning 44.
She initially struggled to conceive, starting the process at 37 when she was still working as a trial lawyer. She tried eating clean, acupuncture, abdominal massage and vaginal steam baths, but still struggled to get pregnant.
At 40, a round of IVF worked – but she miscarried shortly into the pregnancy. According to Mayo Clinic, the risk of having a miscarriage in a pregnancy at 40 years old is 33 to 40 percent, compared to 20 percent at age 35.
Eventually, when she adjusted her work schedule to reduce her stress and adopted a more positive mindset, she got pregnant at 43.
Still, the judgement of others was harsh: ‘I can’t even begin to tell you, like everybody likes to smear their fear all over you.’
She lost count of the amount of people who would speak to her with ‘negativity and condescension,’ when she was trying to conceive and when she was already pregnant.
Rosanne Austin moved from a career as a state prosecutor in California to becoming a fertility coach after her difficulties conceiving
Austin, who has since left her law job and now acts as a fertility coach for women from 20 to 50 years old, said it’s true there are greater risks of conceiving past 40.
But, she added, the reality is, people are settling down – and having children – later in life, and the technology that exists to support that means there’s never been a better time to try to get pregnant.
As such, Austin added: ‘There’s kind of a baby boom happening for women in their 40s.’
Morton, another California native and an author and filmmaker, gave birth to her daughter one month before she turned 44.
She conceived her after seven rounds of IVF therapy using a sperm donor, after initial pushback from an OB/GYN who cautioned against going through the process at her age and alone.
Morton told DailyMail.com: ‘It was quite a journey, and I didn’t tell anyone I was going through it. I didn’t want to hear everybody’s nightmare stories.’
Once she was pregnant, she said, her fertility doctor worried early on that some of her blood tests indicated she might miscarry.
After five weeks of nerve-wracking tests – her doctor deemed her pregnancy healthy. Nearing eight months, she woke up bleeding – and rushed to the hospital in a panic.
Doctors said they couldn’t explain the source, but her pregnancy was fine. Soon after, she delivered her baby girl without complications.
Morton said: ‘Getting pregnant and becoming a parent in my 40s… I think there was a real blessing in that for me, I was so much more settled in my life. I was able to make really good decisions.’
It was odd, she said, at times, to be one of the oldest moms at daycare, or to have her friend’s children be old enough to baby sit her newborn, but she felt supported by those in her life.
Having a baby in her 40s was right for her, and she said she hopes Bündchen is able to take time to enjoy the little moments.
She added: ‘Enjoy every moment of the pregnancy and every moment of being an older mother, because really now she’s got so much experience that she’s bringing to that equation.’
