Baby Watch!

I'd rather wait until later in my life when I'm fully financially capable of taking care of a kid the way I would want to. I'd rather get a career started first, and live my own life for a while. Sure there are possible compilations with waiting til you are a bit older to have a kid, but I think here are possible complications that could come up from having one too young too.

 

You know, the age thing HAS bugged me some--NOW. I wouldn't be 76 while they're 36 and 38. Kinda' wish I was15 years younger so that I could still be on the job with the boys full time. But--you know--wish in one hand and--etc.

 

Mattekat---the compllcations with having a child while young for me , was that I was an alcoholic, stupid dumb-ass, dangerous when drunk moron! (emotional BS)

But as long as a person is ready and can take GOOD care of a child--young is OK. I wasn't at 21.

 

Down syndrome is definitely not something I worry about. It is one of the things you can test for during early pregnancy.

My fear is autism. My husband works with autistic kids, and he sees what having a child on the spectrum can do to a family. He's seen parents struggle to love their own child.

I don't want children now. I get enough of a fix watching my friends little baby. I take him at least once a week.

I've been giving a lot of thought to adoption though. I don't really like the idea of bringing a baby into the world, when there are already so many that don't get the love they deserve. I also don't really like that I'd have to sacrifice my body to have a baby. Yes, that is a very vain thing to say, but it is how I feel.

 

adoption is definitely a commendable act! i would worry about adopting a child and not being able to love him/her as much as a biological child. also pretty vain, but how i feel.

 

Not solely about vanity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu95LbKdLJI

 

My husband feels the same way.

 

Congratulations Scratcho

When my sister had my nephew, I bought him a shirt that said, "All Mommy wanted was a back rub"

 

Good one!

 

When my mother had me she was barely 2 months shy of 37 yrs old. Then when she had my brother she was a few months into 41! Even though I know I'm not a mental slacker, my brother is actually a genius. Of course in order to preserve his sanity he left here (the south) after graduating college, which is totally irrelevant to this topic.

I wanted to say that I feel older women (in their later 30s and even early 40s) have been given a bad rap with claims that a child born to an "older" woman is more likely to have problems, have mongolism, etc.

lol When I read and type "older woman", I think of myself at 59. That would be physically impossible at this stage of the game, but IF it wasn't and I found myself with child, I would want to jump from the highest building I could find.

In the past decade I've noticed it has become more and more common for women to wait until later (after 32) to have their 1st child. There is nothing wrong with taking one's time.

 

It is more common to have children a little bit later, which, in some ways, is great! I don't think these moms get a bad rap...but the "claims" that a child born to an older woman aren't really "claims", as much as they are facts.

From the national Down Syndrome website:



The same can be said for autism and a whole host of other types of disabilities (physical, mental).

Your mother had a best-case outcome, and the majority of babies born to older mothers do indeed have healthy babies, but the risk isn't negligible. Just something to think about.

And sorry for getting too off-topic .

 

Perhaps where you or I get information from has a great deal to do with what information we think we possess...

I just came from this site address:

genetics.thetech.org/ask-a-geneticist/calculating-down-syndrome-risk

The first paragraph says:

"So, in most cases, a 44 year old woman would have around a 3% chance of having a child with Down syndrome. The flip side of that means she has a 97% chance of not having a child with Down syndrome."

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Our information is immensely different. The personal experience I have from my own mother is not my only knowledge of older women having children. I have known a number of women that had their 1st child older as well as those that continued to have children until they reached menopause, calling them menopause babies. The ONLY 2 couples I've ever known personally that had a Down syndrome child were in their late 20s and early 30s.

Then lets don't forget Mattekat indicating her parents were older and she obviously doesn't have Down's syndrome.

 

While anecdotal evidence is meaningful to individuals, it's not good science to rely on it. Even if the exact numbers were a bit different, the site you provided still claims that older mothers have a high incidence of down syndrome births, illustrated by the graph provided on the page, and the text from the article. As I said originally, most older moms have healthy babies, the risks are just higher.

Not to mention that the link you provided talks about "live births" with DS. DS can be detected prenatally so your data don't take into account stillbirths, miscarriages, and abortions.

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Sorry to hijack your thread, scratcho . Any word on the baby yet? I also just read your description of your wife giving birth and being a badass. I love it, and your advice is great too.

 

Thanks youfreeme. Baby be a week late as of today--------ooooooh--gettin' exciting.

 

Will they be inducing?

 

I don't know. My son and his lady are about as casual about this as anyone I've seen!!

 

Hey, that is great. Stress and anxiety would be bad for the baby.

 

Thanks for the update.

 

I love babies....Squee!!!!

 

Inducement coming--probably thursday.