to ask how old you were. . .

[wtf1981]

when you became a mother for the first time/when you had your other children if you've got more than one?
More of an 'I know I am being nosy'!
Am 31,married to a lovely man and becoming keen but feel scared still,which I hope is normal,but time is ticking!
Please share your experiences (ages/fears)!
Thanks :)

DS1 22 (now 3)
DS2 25 (12 days old)

35 and just the one for now

wtf1981, just look how many of us have gone on to have more than one, birth can't be that bad!

Between the ages of 24 - 27 I had three children.

ds-day before I was 31 (he was 10 last Saturday)
dd1- 34
dd2 -38

There will be no more

Got pregnant at 20 and had him at 21. im now 22 and planning next baby in the next 18 months - 2 years.

22
25

Not having anymore. They are more than enough for me

DS - 35
DC2 - nearly 40 and still trying!

between the ages of 25 & 36 I had 4 children; dc4 was conceived when I was 35 which was my cut-off age.

DS1 - 36
DS2 - 39

DS1 -24
DS2 - 28
DD1 - 32

Needed 4 years between them all to get over full pg HG. Wouldn't recommend a 4 year gap as they have all got very different needs and interests. If it wasn't for health reasons I would have squeezed the gap by 1-2 years.

DD1 due in 6 weeks, I'm 40.

I was terrified of the idea before. People are in general quite unhelpful to women who have fears about having children. Anyone who has had a nightmare birth insists on telling the story, at length, and often. Then they start on about sleepless nights, ruined sex life, no money etc etc etc. It's like there is some big competition going on over who had the worst pregnancy/birth/terrible twos/teenage experience going.

If you are going through the same can I just put forward my two-penny-worth. Pregnancy is actually ok. I have not turned into an emotional dribbling wreck with a gargantuan arse and train track stretch marks, and my head has not been stuck down the toilet for the duration. I have yet to experience birth/terrible twos/the rest, but I'm working on the basis that as pregnancy isn't half the torture I expected, I'll survive those too.

If you feel you are even half ready go for it. It has been the best decision I have ever made. It has brought my DH and I much closer, and made us realise how lucky we are. I wouldn't panic unduly about declining fertility at 31. My GP told me that by far her largest number of unplanned pregnancies happen in the 38-45 age group, as women are so convinced they are infertile they take risks. You really aren't. I got pregnant first month off the pill, despite my great age and statistically shrivelled ovaries.

DD - 24
DS - 25

27 when I had DD1

39 when I had DS

46 when we adopted DD2

Big age gaps but it works for us.

35 - had ds this year. will start trying again when he's 1 so hope to be 37 for second. If all goes well will start trying for 3rd when dc2 is 1 and be 39 for the last one - altho we might try to sneak another in!

DS - 27
DD - 35 (a surprise!)

Dd 1 - 21
Dc2 - 23 due in March.

Dp is 12 years older than me so didn't want to leave it too late.

DD- 21
DS2-23
DS3 was adopted when I was 25
DS4-26
We are done now .
DD was an accident and we were scared of being to young plus we were both studying so it was not ideal. Maybe we would of been less worried if we had been older but we wouldn't change it for anything now.

DD 24
DS 29

(DH was adamant we finished our family by age 30)

21 and 28

I wanted today to fave number 2 when I was about 25/6 but took us ages to fall second time.

ds - 25
dd - 33

Married at 29.
DS at 30.
We haven't finished yet (hopefully).

ds 26.1
dd 30.5

DC1 - 29 (1 month off 30 when I gave birth) in 2003
DC2 - 32 in 2005
DC3 - 34 in 2007

I thought I would be an older mother but I was infact about average.

I have so many friends who were having their 1st child when my 3rd was celebrating her 1st or 2nd birthday. They then had their 2nd child with less than 18 month gap because they felt time was ticking so much.

I had a number of friends who had their 1st child at age 38/39 and then regretted waiting so long because they ideally wanted more than 1 but didn't want to take the risk of having children after 40. I know quite a fall women who fall into this category.