On Being an Older Mom

I'm 33. And I don't think of myself as particularly old. But consider this: I remember when my own mom was 33, because I was already 10! My parents married at 18, had my brother at 20, and had me at 23. That was pretty much the norm in the late 60s/early 70s. Now, it's more common for women to have babies well into their 40s. Here are some of what I consider to be the pros and cons:

Definite pro: I'm more mature. I don't even think of myself as the same person I was in my 20s. I could barely manage to care for myself then, much less take on the responsibility of a child.

Another bonus to waiting is that all my close relatives have already had kids. This is a twofold blessing. First, I was able to see different parenting styles in action and learn from their successes (and sometimes minor mistakes) what works and what doesn't. Second, we are the recipients of an enormity of hand-me-downs--clothes, toys, and even baby care products.

A big upside is that Scott and I have been in the workforce long enough that we are financially able to have children without it becoming a huge strain. Everybody says if you wait until you can afford it to have kids, you never will. But, really, we haven't felt a huge impact financially from having Reagan, and I know this is because we had time to prepare.

Now for the con side. As far as I can tell, the only downside of being an older mom is that I just don't have the energy I did when I was in my 20s. I'm trying to do some things that will help compensate for this (exercising, eating better, taking supplements), but the fact is, something happens to your body after 30. I can't seem to handle staying up late anymore. At the end of the day when Reagan goes to bed, I'm often ready to follow soon after.

When I weigh the good against the bad, I know that, for us, being older parents was the way to go. However, health risks do go up for childbearing once a woman reaches 35, and childbirth gets increasingly more risky the older a woman gets. So, don't expect me to become one of those really older moms, having babies in my 50s--my parents, Reagan's grandparents, are only in their mid-50s. Something about grandmother's having babies just doesn't seem normal to me.