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I'm 38 and Want a Baby - Is it Too Late?

Posted: 24/05/2012 00:00

Some of you may have read my blog about having a miscarriage and then being too scared to try again.

I'm finally fully embracing the idea but very soon I turn 39. All through my thirties I thought I was bobbing along fancy-free and young at heart. Now the reality has hit that I'm one step away from 40. Cue sirens and red flashing lights. Each month is worth its weight in gold now, so it is a mission even if not necessarily missionary.

If you search "baby at 40" and read any of the doom and gloom views you will want to just hang up your procreating boots.

The worst about this is that everyone has an opinion once you're over 35. Even if you do not ask for it they give it. Proven mums think they have the right.

Some people tell you "not to think about it" and just "relax". It is true that I conceived last year when least expecting it. On a long weekend at the seaside where it rained the whole time. But it is so much easier said than done.

Then there is the school that say IVF is the modern day solution for older mothers. I have friends who have been broken by the whole procedure - financially and emotionally. I also know of other success stories. Maybe in time I will need to try it but for now I remain hesitant.

Then others, the sympathetic clan, who suggest trying to adopt or foster. I would be very happy to do this. I adore children and would easily love an adopted child unconditionally. But as a woman I somehow want to prove to myself first I can do it. Oestrogen arrogance maybe. But it is an innate feeling.

The worst group are the no hopers. They nod and shuffle there feet and politely suggest I accept being childless and focus on other things like travel or even get a dog. WTF?

I have had a life with ups and fair few downs and I honestly feel I wasn't ready till now. Dealing with a broken marriage, public humiliation by old workplace and my father's death has taken its time and its toll. I needed to digest and process before I could create life.

The irony is that I wasn't sure I wanted a baby before and I had more eggs than an Easter hunt. Now I do I maybe find the basket is empty.

But instead of wallowing I have started to call in my baby. By that I mean affirming that it will happen. Thoughts become words that become deeds and actions.

We are moving house and will finally have our own home, not a vestige of my husband's former life. It was never truly my home and this is a new start for us.

Living well also seems a good step forward. Less coffee and booze plus healthier stuff. Though it can be taken to extremes. The homeopath of a friend of mine had told her not to walk barefoot as it chills the ovaries and to breathe real air when doing exercise as opposed to gym air. I think I will stick with no diet coke for now.

I have stopped trying to plan it e.g obsessively doing calendar tests online. I also chucked away ovulation tests as they just made me confused with all there different coloured lines. Not a great foreplay to love making either. It smacks of "Get to bed NOW as am about to hatch an egg..."

I was also advised by some spiritual friends to connect with the baby's soul. Before incarnation that soul is said to be around you. I like this idea and have always felt that there was a little angel on my shoulder.

I have also stopped feeling sorry for myself as I pass babies in prams and heavily pregnant women. I would feel a pang of envy mixed with anxiety. Instead I am hanging around with as many babes as I can. My nephews, godchildren and friends kids. Practice makes perfect and maybe I will catch the baby bug.

On a serious note I will not let these feelings of inadequacy and over-the-hill-ness defeat me. Better to have fought and failed than never to have tried at all.

To be continued...

 

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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Tazirai
Society is not your friend.
11:48 PM on 06/12/2012
With all that posted, Yes I do have a child, and plan to adopt. I love my child to death, but yes if I had it to do over again. She probably would not exist. But i'd still plan to adopt.

Too much is placed on women to have children all the time. I wish people used reason over emotion when thinking about kids.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
OD4U
If its OK for one then its OK for all.
10:00 PM on 06/05/2012
We had children late, our last two came when my wife was 43 and then at 45. No regrets and wouldn't change anything. You do get told too many times not to have children after you're forty. Tosh! However, I would not want to have children any later because the time you have with them is short enough and, I would worry about dying and leaving them to fend for themselves too early.
08:53 PM on 06/05/2012
One bit of advice, now you're over the hill stop calling yourself "chick" brit or otherwise, no doubt once those froggies know you're up for it they'll be queuing up along the rue, just part em and hope for the best, watch out for garlic breath though, be prepared, eat some yourself.
05:05 PM on 06/04/2012
In 2009, twenty-four days prior to my 39th birthday, I had my first baby, a girl. I am so full of love and in awe that I have a child, and at odds with the fact that because I had her so late in life I will miss out on most of her adulthood, but I wouldn't change anything. I highly recommend the endeavour.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Laatab
All The Worlds A Stage
09:12 PM on 05/27/2012
Well it's all you you you isn't it. A baby would do you the world of good no doubt. But before you take the plunge, take a look around at the world and consider what your birthing a child into. Take all that into acount and if you go ahead I'm sure you'll make a brilliant mother.
08:58 PM on 05/27/2012
Hi ..i am 60..i want a baby too ..is it too late ?? I know i am still productive...have astonishing genealogy and i live in london...After divorce, countless issues at work etc..life passed me by. I regret bitterly not having had children..I want to have a child..but how do I do it? Advertise? Stop girls in street and ask if they want my sperm? How ??
Can we talk? xxx
Old Greek Warhorse
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Ben Wilson
What's the story mourning Tories?
07:40 PM on 05/27/2012
I know a women who had a kid at 49 and she's doing fine. I know about 20 women who had kids between 14 and 21, there not doing as well.
06:44 PM on 05/27/2012
It's not too late... but always check with your physician! good luck :)
08:08 PM on 05/26/2012
I can fit you in Tuesday tiger, my place or yours.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Ashlieeeee
Free thinkers are dangerous!
05:45 AM on 05/26/2012
You're not old yet sister. Go for it!
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Dombeyandson
03:58 PM on 05/25/2012
I'm 38 and Want a Baby - Is it Too Late? it's never too late my number is ........
03:33 PM on 05/25/2012
We're rooting for you, BritChick! xoxo
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jf12
When I saw her I marveled greatly.
02:43 PM on 05/25/2012
My wife had her one (and only, strictly by her choice) baby at age 40, no problems. Now, at 61, she wishes she had had more.
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Lorindol
I shall consider it . . .
08:20 AM on 05/25/2012
Becoming a dad made me a decent human being. For the first time, I really learned about putting someone else before myself. My daughter is without a doubt the best thing that ever happened to me.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
crumpets
03:02 AM on 05/25/2012
You are very lucky that you live in an age and a part of the world (one of the very few parts) where you have access to procedures like amniocentesis and CVS which allow parents to know if their child will have major birth defects, which are more likely when the mother is older.

You need to get pregnant soon and make sure you attend all of your prenatal scans if you do get pregnant. Be prepared for the increased chance of having to terminate the baby if there is a birth defect. Also, take folic acid (I forget the pre-conception dose look it up) religiously.

In short, stop faffing and get sexing.