How old when you had your youngest child?

[Henrietta23]

We adopted our son when I was 38. Wish I could say I felt great but I had pneumonia and a terrible throat infection that resulted in a tonsilectomy 9 months later. I felt awful for most of his first year with us. I do feel that I have a lot more patience with him now than I would have if I'd had children when I was younger.

 

[Scrambled Egg]

Good thread here!! Looks like a big dichotomy in the ages..alot of really young and really "old" lol!! parents!! Good thing I was an "old" parent, it was hard enough being mature at 31, cant imagine how I would have warped a kid if I'd had one in my teens!!!!! Obviously someone was looking out for ya'll there, lol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[dangerouschicken]

We adopted all three of our girls (they are birth sisters). Adoption is WONDERFUL!!!

 

[Chickaroo!]

I am so glad this thread was started!! I am going to be 35 in Sept. and haven't had any children yet. My DH and I want just one but were somewhat concerned about my age. So, I recently went to talk to my gyn about my age and getting pregnant and she said that the standard age to have children has been raised considerably. The main thing to do is make sure you are healthy.

 

[mylittlehof]

I had my first at 29 (6 months away from 30) and then proceeded to have 4 more - all 2 and 9 months apart (we joke that we got frisky on each of their 2nd birthdays) I had my youngest at 39. I had no problems at that age - the pregnancies were the same for a all 4. We did go in to induce with my last, due to "scheduling issues". I didn't want to have to find someone to watch my 3 boys in the middle of the night (no family near). The doctor did say to me when my labor wasn't progressing quickly enough that when you get older your uterus is less efficient - which is NOT what I wanted to hear while I was laboring - I wanted to punch him. I did have to get potosin (to help labor along), which made it more difficult, but after the epidural - no problems. I walked during all the pregnancies, watched what I ate and felt healthy in all. Good Luck!

 

[pati-o]

I had mine at ages 23,24,27, and 31. I wish I would have waited until I was a few years older to start. My mom was 36 when I was born (I was #5) and all of my friends preferred to hang out at my house because my mom was so laid back and calm- I really,really feel like I was uptight with my oldest 2. I wanted to do it all- be a super mom, work full time, have a spotless and beautifully decorated home, entertain friends and show them how I could be a super mom and while trying to to it all I think I missed out on some of the small things. I enjoy my kids SOOOO much more now. My baby will be 7 next week and I love every minute with my kids because I think I've mellowed as I've gotten older and realized what is really important in live.
Just my 2 cents.
pati

I won't share birth stories- no one wants to have nightmares tonight! Childbirth is Gods way of making us ask ourselves "do I really want to do this again?". LOL

 

[patandchickens]

Wow, y'all have a funny(to me)-sounding idea of what 'old' is

I had my first at age 39 and the other one last year at 42.

First one was in a hospital but entirely with midwives, no nurses or doctors; second was at home with midwives.

Neither pregnancy was all that much fun - arthritis, and a body with numerous decades' worth of experience being Not Pregnant, take their toll - but I did not have any complications in a 'have to be referred to medical care' sense, just stupid aggravations like pubic bone separation, falling down stairs and breaking tailbone

, killer leg cramps, etc.

The first labor was ok (not painless, but, no drugs) and I think it was rather longer than it should've been on account of the whole going-to-hospital thing. The second was only a few hrs from start to finish (I think standing helped, and having worked hard the previous few wks to keep the baby in the right position), and despite virtually-constant contractions (ow), the actual birth itself was quite easy and really kind of fun

The main 'risk' of having kids at an older age is really just the increased rate of miscarriage. And therefore worrying through the whole first trimester or so. Myself I was only batting .500 or less

but can't really complain since I did end up with two kids. (Well sometimes I -do- complain about the two kid but that is different <g>)

Quote:
This is factually absolutely correct and people should pay more attention to it than they do, especially when their doctors are suggesting otherwise in order to rope women into doctor's-butt-covering tests and interventions

I *highly highly highly* recommend a good midwife for anyone for whom it's an option, as avoiding a lot of counterproductive interventions and making things go much more smoothly and no less safely.

Best of luck,

Pat

 

[PennyinOK]

I had my first at 18 and my last at 37 no real problems, the doctors want to do a million more test it seems but it was all fine.

 

[Frozen Feathers]

Had my only lonely at 25. Planning for one more ASAP.

 

[clairseme]

There are a lot of different ages to have kids. Women are fertile for 30 or more years of their lives. I had my first when I was 15, then went and had 4 more after him, and we are thinking of having another in the next couple of years, but there is going to be a huge age difference between my youngest and any I have now. Youngest is almost 13. But my grandparents had 11 kids and she had them all the way up until my grandmother was 45, and that was back in the late 30's. My parents had me when they were in their 40's also. I guess its just what you are up for, if you want to be still raising kids into your 60's, which is not uncommon now when there are so many grandparents raising grandchildren also.