Do you sometimes feel like Sally when she cries to Harry about turning 40…someday? “It’s just sitting there,” she says. “Like some big dead end.”

It’s true that a dip in female fertility potential occurs at age 35, hardly an age considered “old” by today’s standards. We see celebrity couples having children into their 50s, and may believe the opportunity to delay childbearing exists for everyone. Even Sally.

You may tell yourself: Just one more month, and then I’ll see a fertility specialist. Dr. Dan Gehlbach with Midwest Reproductive Center advises that the closer you are to your late 30s, the more proactive you should be about getting pregnant.

Dr. Gehlbach explains that treatment options for women facing age-related infertility focus on accelerating conception. The younger you are, the better chance you have for conception. Options for fast-tracking conception include in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and less invasive intrauterine insemination (IUI).

When prescribed fertility treatment does not result in a pregnancy, Dr. Gehlbach sometimes recommends donor eggs for women of advanced maternal eggs. In fact, Midwest Reproductive Center recommends that women over age 43 consider IVF using donor eggs.

Maternal age is a major factor in diagnosing female infertility, but Dr. Gehlbach also considers health history, previous pregnancy attempts and your partner’s reproductive health.

If 40 is “just sitting there” and you feel it’s time to expedite your efforts to get pregnant, contact a fertility specialist like Dr. Gehlbach. He can explain fertility preservation and treatment options to help you maximize your fertility potential.

For more information of age and infertility visit www.midwestreproductive.com