One of the biggest gifts bestowed on women is the ability to conceive a child. However, women entering the work force, the acceptance of contraceptives and Roe vs. Wade, have forever changed women's attitudes towards pregnancy.

Many women want to be financially stable, to fulfill their career goals or are just not ready to give their bodies up to pregnancy. But as they approach their forties, some of these women are finding that they feel more ready than ever -- but their bodies are no longer as receptive to pregnancy.

Dr. Judith Reichman -- author of I'm Too Young to Get Old and Relax, this Won't Hurt and Today show correspondent -- is one of the leading specialists in fertility and woman's health. She explains that the easiest time for a woman to conceive is in her twenties. This is when she has the healthiest eggs available for fertilization.

Did you know that women start out with a lifelong supply of one to two million eggs living in their ovaries? (Test your knowledge of fertility with our quiz) Over the course of her life these eggs naturally die off, resulting in only a thousand left by the time of menopause. (The average age of menopause is fifty-one.) Not only are fewer eggs available later in life, but also those that are left are the least healthy.

A woman's chance of becoming pregnant begins to decrease at age thirty. When we look at a "natural" population (one without contraceptive use) a woman at age 35 has a 50 percent chance of having a baby. At age 45, she has only a 5 percent chance of giving birth. Only one percent of live births in the United States (in a "natural population") is to woman over 40.

To increase your chances of becoming pregnant, you must first make sure that your body is ready to receive a child. This means reducing the toxins that you take in like caffeine, alcohol and tobacco. Make sure that you are taking at least 400 mg of folic acid per day to help prevent certain birth defects, and are getting enough calcium and exercise. Once your body is ready you must then try to have intercourse at your peak fertility moment, which is close to ovulation. It you are unfamiliar with your cycle you can purchase an ovulation kit (found at drug stores) that will help you predict when that is.

If you are over 35 and have not become pregnant within a year, then Dr. Reichman recommends an "aggressive approach before the options involving your own eggs run out." There are many techniques, including drug treatments and assisting the egg with fertilization in and outside of the womb. The success rate of these treatments is very low. However, the good news is a woman's uterus does not age, and with donor eggs the chance of pregnancy greatly improves. Even though this means this egg will not be your own, you could be one of the 21 to 38 percent of women who take a home a baby with this method.

If you are over 40, don't get discouraged yet! We encourage you to talk with your doctor and have an honest discussion about your expectations and the realities of pregnancy.

-- Sarah Pinder

Read the transcripts from Melanie Griffith's August 17th chat with Dr. Reichman.