Positive stories of having an older father

[Alloftheskies]

Hi I'd just like to hear some people's positive experiences of having older dads as alot of threads I read have only people criticising this.
I'm currently 36 weeks pregnant with my 3rd child (a girl) and her father (my husband) is 51.
We have two other children together but there's a big age gap betwen them and this new child. This pregnancy wasn't planned and was a big shock as I'd been on contraception. I didn't find out till quite late on. We had blood tests and she has very low likelihood of all the medical problems tested for. I'm having scans every fortnight and so far everything is looking great.
I'm 15 years younger than my husband.
I'm just looking for some positive reassurance really about how it is to have an older father.
My husband is fit and healthy at the moment and in fact both his parents are still alive.. his dad is in his 80s and still travels round the world alone.
I've lost both my parents in my late 20s and early 30s and they were not older parents, they had me in their late twenties... so I do know there's no guarantee of anything in life.

51 is absolutely fine and nothing to worry about, especially given what you day about Dh's parents.

My mother's father for instance had children into his late forties and lived until 99. My mother was the second youngest and she was 62 when he passed.

Me on the otherhand had a very young father who suffered mnd and passed at just turning 57. He had me when he was just 23.

You'll both be fine, longevity is certainly on his side.

Don't worry about things that aren't a problem yet , and may never be!

Be happy in the fact that you will be bringing a bundle of joy into this world.

@App13
Thankyou x

Well you can’t do anything about it now!

I have experience of my husband being a stepfather from age 50-60 of a 5-15 year old. I can honestly say that his age has never crossed my mind. Actually at 60/15 today, they’re out mountain biking together whilst I’m at work (and on MN).

Gosh at my DS school loads of dads over 50 and to be fair they always seem to do the drop off and picks up and clubs and parties! They are brilliant with the kids don’t stress enjoy your bundle of joy and congratulations!

My dh dd was 50 when he was born, he says he was always aware that his dd was much older and more old fashioned than his friends parents, and had a sense that he would lose him at a young age all his childhood. Sadly he did lose him in his early 30s, before we had our last dc, which meant his dd didn't get to meet all his dgc. That's just his experience of growing up with an older dad, and back in the 70/80s it was considered rather old. These days that doesn't seem to be as much of an issue as people in general are having dc older, so hopefully your dc will feel differently.

Thankyou guys!
Obviously I'm full of hormones right now and emotional.. thinking alot about how it's felt to loose my own parents young and wondering if my baby will have to face this too..
but I know its not predicatble.. as I said my parents weren't older. But the scary thing is my dad dropped dead out of nowhere very suddenly of a brain enyurism whilst seemingly perfectly healthy. I was an adult but it was very hard to go through... so I've been thinking about it alot with this baby.

@Umtydumpy
I think there's less generational gap now days.
I look at photos of my gran when she was 50 and she's dressed and behaving like someone in their 70s might now..
My DH certainly is not old fashioned.. in fact some of his outlook on life is a bit too progressive for me lmao
I think maybe growing up in the Internet age... time seems much less of a thing. My 9yo son talks to me about memes from when I was young that are suddenly popular amongst his friends.. it's odd. My parents had very few shared points of reference with me as a child.

We’d love an update; how are you, Daddy & baby getting on?

My dad was 50 when I was born.
He was very patient and kind with me growing up. He was more lenient than with my older brother. I don't think he'd have been a better dad if he was younger

DH was in 50s when our children were born
It's just life! Even though I'm younger, my health is unfortunately worse than his atm (not by choice!)
He's had an amazing career and can now kick back a bit and be a very active dad!

I've just seen this!
We are all doing fine. Lovely healthy baby girl adored by her older siblings. Just about to turn 1!
She's slotted right in to our family. It's been tiring of course but I'm so grateful for her and I know my DH is too.