It’s extremely common at this point to spend one’s 20s busily getting started on adulthood: many people choose to get an education, start working, travel, care for family members, or any of a wide variety of adventures. Due to these pursuits, plenty of women arrive at the big 3-0 ready to start trying to have their first pregnancy, or still wanting to wait a few more years before beginning a family. However, it’s valuable to moderate one’s expectations once you do start trying to have a child, given that a woman’s fertility changes over the course of her life, and undergoes big changes between the ages of 30 and 39.
Fertility by the Numbers

Fertility in your 30s can be very different from someone else’s fertility in their 30s; while many women get pregnant right away when they begin trying to conceive in their 30s, there are others who require months or even more than a year to get pregnant. Your fertility will generally be highest in your 20s, with a peak somewhere around 32, before a slow drop-off. After 35, fertility tends to go down, though again, many women continue to conceive into their 40s. Remember that the chances of getting pregnant on any given cycle are pretty low?usually less than 30% even at a woman’s peak fertility. Thus, preparing to spend a few months trying to conceive is a great strategy for fertility in your 30s.
Two other factors may change as you reach your mid-30s and on. One is that risk of miscarriage ten...