Home 43 , 44 The wrong side of 45 – and I've got a toddler

The wrong side of 45 – and I've got a toddler

Catherine McDiarmid-Watt | Saturday, January 06, 2018 | 0 comments

Sometimes I look back and wonder what strange, irrational urge took grip.

It began as a discreet niggle around three years ago but soon escalated, and I found myself, aged 43, desperate to have another baby.

Not just any baby, you understand, but a third child.

There was something about three, I reasoned – if such a thing was possible in my less-than-logical state.

Whereas two were too neat and ordered, three was chaotic, abundant, life-affirming.

We're too old for this, my husband says, maybe a little more wearily than usual, washing the dishes at the tail end of one particularly ragged Sunday evening.

Past 10pm and we can finally relax after the marathon that begins with settling our 16-month-old to sleep, followed by a more protracted battle to get our eight- and 10-year-olds upstairs.

If we drag ourselves to bed in the next half hour, the hope is the insistent cries of a toddler waking us at 6am will be more bearable.

This, then, is a taste of middle-age parenthood when you surf the fertility deadline maybe a little too far, squeezing in baby number three at 45.

This Pregnancy Over 40 story was found on TheGuardian.com
Read more: The wrong side of 45 – and I've got a toddler
Originally posted on July 21, 2012.

TODAY'S BOOK SUGGESTION:

Image: Stay Fertile Longer: Everything You Need to Know to Get Pregnant Now--Or Whenever You're Ready, by Mary Kittel and Deborah Metzger. Publisher: Rodale Books (August 26, 2004)

Stay Fertile Longer: Everything You Need to Know to Get Pregnant Now--Or Whenever You're Ready
by Mary Kittel and Deborah Metzger

-- Many women today dream of having it all -- a challenging career, a satisfying personal life, a loving mate, and a baby whenever they're ready.

But there's no denying the fact that their biological clocks are ticking away.
The odds of conceiving drop by 15 to 20 percent for a woman in her early 30's and plummet to less than 50 percent when she's in her 40's.

The good news is that there are a host of natural strategies every would-be mom can use today to preserve and optimize her fertility, so that she can conceive quickly and easily when she's ready.

Paperback: 352 pages
Click to order/for more info: Stay Fertile Longer

Category: 43, 44

About Catherine: I am mom to three grown sons, two grandchildren and two rescue dogs. After years of raising my boys as a single mom, I remarried a wonderful man who had never had a child of his own. Unexpectedly, I found myself pregnant at 49!
Sadly we lost our precious baby at 8 weeks, and decided to try again. Five more losses, turned down for donor egg, foster care and adoption due to my age and losses - we have accepted there will be no more babies in our house.

Find Catherine on Facebook - Follow me on Twitter

0 comments

WE LOVE COMMENTS!
Don't just sit there, reading this story or article - say something! Do you believe it? Do you think it is impossible? Do you wish it was you? Do you have a story to share (it might get published!)

NOTE: Comments are moderated - just to stop the spambots - and so may take up to a few hours to be approved.

Catherine reserves the right to review, edit, refuse or delete any comment.