Blimey! Victoria Coren Mitchell has had a second baby at 51

[Sidebeforeself]

Congratulations to her. I caught up with OC last night and thought she looked pregnant but dismissed it when i remembered she’s around my age. Then i saw the announcement today. I’m knackered just thinking about it!

What strikes me as amazing is that her first child is 8. So they can’t even really be playmates in any real sense.

I had my first at 41, in 2017, so I empathised a lot with VCM. I’d have loved a second, but now I recognise I just don’t have the strength or energy.

I’m not a millionaire though… anything’s possible with enough nannies and cleaners behind you.

She's not thick so yeah I imagine that's covered

This gives me hope-
im 41 and have been losing hope
ill ever manage one more baby as it’s not happening and egg donation etc is out my price range but to have a glimmer of hope is lovely. Good on them. My parents had me young but my
dad died young so I didn’t get much time with him, so I don’t think older = less
time always. And it certainly doesn’t = quality time which this couple
look like they’ll give their girls in bucketloads.

Having wealth has no bearing on your success as parents. It's provides a buffer to ensure you are able to buy them things (education / medical specialists / etc).

She's a very intelligent,very astute, successful, well-educated, wealthy, happily married woman. Neither she, or her husband or children, are at all requiring of your mean-minded, ignorant pity.

Better than having a miserable sourpuss for a mother, that’s for sure.

Lovely news for them. It's unusual for a woman to conceive at that age but it's very far from impossible. I can understand why she hadn't announced it, must have been a bit anxiety provoking but all seems well. Congratulations to all!

@moetmoet Hormones are given to prepare/stimulate the uterus for implantation but yes, it's incredible how the body then carries the older body can then nurture the foetus

Congratulations to her and David Mitchell. Decent people.

My parents were 42/43 having me, and I was 47 having my twins.
My parents are now active 93/94 year-olds.

Those saying they'd be exhausted having children in late-forties probably had children young, and couldn't bear the thought of starting again. But it's very different when you're having your first children as an older parent. I work full-time in a senior role, and yes I'm tired juggling work and toddlers, but I think I'd be tired if I were 20 years younger too! As a teen, I loved having an older mum - I was proud she had had a career before getting married & having children (less normal in the 60s).

Good luck to them - they'll be able to buy-in the help and support they need, and hopefully will have long, healthy lives.

I saw this in the Times this morning, there can't be many 8 year old Barbaras in the UK!

I bet they are great parents, congratulations to them.

Envy is often dressed up as criticism I find...

VCM is an educated woman and I suspect she lives in a slightly different area to you.

I sadly know lovely young mums 34 years old and younger, who have died from other diseases/accidents/illness. Being a young mum doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be around to see your dc grow up. Life doesn’t work like that.

Good luck to her and baby June!

There is not a very good chance of them both not surviving until she’s an adult, they are both early 50s, the wealthiest 10% in the Uk live to an of average 83 (men) and 86 (women).

They may not both make it that far, but the chances are they will both be around for their daughter’s 25th, and at least one of them will see her past 30.

I’m sure they would both say it’s not optimal, but lots of situations aren’t. She will have every other advantage in life, so losing her parents earlier than average is unlikely to be a disaster (I say this as someone who lost both parents youngish).

I had my children in my thirties and now have terminal cancer and won't see them grow up.

Premature death can happen to anyone at any time but she and her husband are very intelligent and wealthy and I suspect will live a long time, and if they don't, they will be very well provided for.

Perhaps you should better educate yourself before you make pronouncements about people you don't know?

That's lovely news. They seem a genuinely nice couple.
I've been doing my family tree recently,and discovered that two of my great great grandmothers had their last child in their 50s. (They definitely were their babies as all the daughters had long been married and had their own families by then).
Probably explains why I got more fertile the older I got, and why I'm still having periods at 55 though 🙄.

So we should be introducing forced sterilisation to women above certain age?

I’m 51, in peri. I think of myself as fairly fit and active but I honestly don’t think my mind and body could handle a baby. I’ve just fallen asleep on the sofa at 7pm so the thought of bathing bubbas, bedtime routines and broken nights makes me shudder. And there’s me feeling like an old parent with a 15 and 18 year old!
Good luck to them though.

My mam and dad were in their mid/late 40s when she had me. They were fit and healthy and provided me with a loving, stable, happy upbringing. They worked, were financially and emotionally stable. I lacked nothing and I had them longer than many of my friends had their parents.
As a teacher I see often children dragged up by young, single parents who don't work, can't provide for them physically, financially or emotionally and who live emotionally chaotic, unstable, disorganised lives themselves.
I think a child born to Victoria Coren-Mitchell and David Mitchell is likely to be very fortunate- despite the mean comments of some posters on here.

I believe there is a correlation between successfully having children later in life and longevity. I could theoretically still get pregnant and I'm 54, but still having my periods regular as clockwork. Good luck to them.

My granny had my aunt at 54. She was a wee surprise 9 years after she thought she had finished having babies.

I have a friend who had her youngest at 49. Her eldest brother oise 25 years older.

You did notcsee the one pitying the child?

It was a cross post and sadly yes since then there have been some snarky comments

Really? Despite all of the atrocities in the world at the momentt the worst thing you can think of is a wealthy couple having a baby at a slightly later age in life?