- my iParenting
- quick clicks
- pregnancy today articles
- pregnancy today q&a
- message boards
- research baby names
- prepare a birth plan
- content channels
- ip channel rss feeds
- read birth stories
- read parenting stories
- recommended books
- e-newsletters
- safety recalls
- ip diaries
- ip store
- mom of the month
- dad of the month
- editor's letter
- letters to the editor
 |
- e-newsletters
- Sign up to receive our free weekly e-newsletters
- award-winning products
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families.
40 Plus
Pregnancy After 40
By Donna Verry Dee
At age 42, Charlotte Standish is one of the oldest parents in her daughter's kindergarten class and about five years older than any of the parents at her 2-year-old's daycare center. And in June, she will most likely be the oldest mom in the delivery ward when her baby boy is born.
Like a growing number of women, Standish chose to delay parenting until later in life when she was "more settled."
"Spending my 20s as a single person helped me to 'get to know myself,' go to school and work," says Standish, who works part time as an office administrator. "My husband and I didn't meet until I was 30 and he was 31. [He] was in graduate school until he was 35 so we started out late in terms of having much money to buy a house and other things."
Material things aside, many midlife moms feel they have acquired valuable life experience that makes them particularly good parents.
"Seeing what I've seen in life is going to help me a lot with my kids," says Debbie Dillon, a 42 year-old mother of four. "I'll be able to tell when they're up to something because I've done it all before."
Until her late 30s, Dillon had little interest in becoming a mother. But when she hit 37 and moved in with her longtime boyfriend, now her husband, all that changed rapidly. First came a daughter, followed quickly by twin boys and, two years ago, at age 40, another son.
As for the pregnancies themselves, Dillon recalls being in a prolonged state of exhaustion and discomfort. "When you're my age, you just can't wait to get them out. It's a nuisance," she says with a laugh as her toddler tugs on her hair.
Standish agrees that, for both her and her husband, energy has waned with age. "We are very tired! Although we are both active people who enjoy skiing, bicycling and swimming, we simply don't have the energy that we had 10 years ago."
Want to see more?
Comments
There are no comments for this article yet.Be the first to 
|
Post As:
|
||
| Enter your comment below: | ||
| Title | ||
| Comment Text | ||
| CAPTCHA | ||
| Please note that any comments submitted become the property of Disney Family / iParenting and can be edited and posted at our discrection. | ||
