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!

Amazing and incredible, all the best to them, I love news like this! Whether assisted or not I think it's super, she has a youthful energy about her for sure!

I’m astounded!

I’m 39 and knackered!

But I can’t afford help, maternity leave left us (literally) bankrupt and the strain of having no support network has brought our marriage to the brink.

I am sure with their resources they’ll just be able to enjoy all of the nice bits and at least Barbara will have a sibling when they’ve gone.

I don't think being a gran at 32 is particularly common or desirable...

It is relevant to know who Victoria Coren Mitchell is before making that sort of comment. She and her husband met comparatively late and both thought that having children was something that might not happen for them. They were overjoyed to have their first child. They are wealthy enough to pay for any help that will make having two young children easier. Victoria Coren Mitchell looks as if she is one of those people whose biological age is younger than her chronological age so maybe that will help her too.

What about the older male pop stars like Mick Jagger who have babies in their 70s and 80s, like Mick Jagger? Are you worried about their children too?

Parents are older these days. The hang ups that people have due to older parents just don't seem to be prevalent these days

I've been both ends of the spectrum- I felt more judged as a young mum then as a 'geriatric' which was how they kindly labeled me when i had my last.

As the average life expectancy for women is now 84, that is unlikely to be the 'predictable' outcome in this instance.

This is his account of how they met, grab a tissue.

My experience is that everything changes when you go through the menopause.

Fit as a fiddle to an old crock almost overnight. Though I think Covid restriction and WFH made it worse.

Where did you have your last baby that 32 was old?!

Wow!
my mum had me at 42 - I often think that I’d only have a 10 year old now if that was me and how much less fit/well I am than I was 10 years ago and I’d find it tough going.

I like the name June Violet

I cannot believe she is 51 … I thought she was at least 10 years younger!

1973 😂

Not what i'd choose, but then I haven't lived their lives or had their resources.

I'm very sure the child would on balance prefer to have been born to her mother at 55 than not born.

@AllThatFancyPaintsAsFair things have changed in 50 years!

Really? Living in a war zone with your child? Cancer? Domestic violence? Rape? Child abuse? All less terrible than two intelligent, healthy, successful, happily married, slightly older than the norm, people having a baby. Don't be so ridiculous.

Wow!

I do wonder at the phrasing though. Do they mean:
"21st child of Joseph Stanley by his wife Diana Riley." So the 21st child that Joseph and Diana have had together.

Or "21st child of Joseph Stanley. This child born by his wife Diana Riley." So Joseph could have fathered 11 children with a first wife, who then died. Then he married again and fathered 10 children with wife number 2, Diana.

It is of course impressive either way. And of course before we had effective contraception, lots of women had to just keep getting pregnant until they: a) Died in childbirth, b) Reached menopause, or c) Had some sort of birth injury which left them infertile (often seems to happen in books!)

He didn't have to carry the baby to term at his age!

It’s a fact that its unusual and harder work when you are older thats all

They are rich though, it helps.

No age is guaranteed. My dad had me aged 34 and died suddenly when I was 16. Good luck to them. Don’t envy them the teen years in their 60s, but they are shit however old you are! 😂

But neither having a child at 16 nor dying young are common.

Death is more likely as on get older, we all know this.

People cannot have it all. You cannot have a baby at 51 and magically expect to cheat death. Every single one of us makes trade offs in life.

If you have a baby late, you may have more money - but you are much more likely to die when your children are young adults. Fact. No getting around it, and there's no shame in it.

Death is more likely as on get older, we all know this.

And we know that richer people live longer.

Why is it a good point? Men's fertility doesn't decline at the same rate as women's, it's no surprise that he's fathered a child at that age.

It's more of a risk for a women to have a child at that age, that may be where the comments are coming from.

good luck to them, they both seem lovely.

it is interesting that now we’ve had a couple of generations having good access to contraception, the very notion it’s possible to get pregnant and carry a baby to term in your early 50s seems insane.

of course it was normal to have babies up until menopause a few generations back. Most woman haven’t gone through the menopause at 50/51. It’s a higher risk pregnancy but not an impossible one.

Id assume an 8 year gap between dcs plus not announcing a pregnancy until after a safe delivery would mean they’ve had some heartbreak along the way to completing their family, but equally could be an unplanned one. Particularly given how many woman on here seem to think you can’t get pregnant without medical assistance at 50 - all the 50-somethings who haven’t gone through the menopause, you do still need to use contraceptives if the idea of being pregnant now scares you!

Anyone can die of cancer, heart disease, stroke etc. Being rich isn't some magic shield against nature.

Rich people aren't living til 200 and cheating death. They're still mortals like us. They die in their 60s, 70s 80s and if they're lucky, 90+