When my Mum was pregnant in the mid eighties in the London suburb I grew up in, her notes stated that she was ‘geriatric.’ She was 33. The midwives kept on referring to her as being ‘older’ all the time. The other Mums and pregnant women all seemed to be younger than her.
My Mum’s best friend was the same age, and pregnant at the same time as her. She lived in a more affluent London suburb and was never referred to as ‘geriatric,’ and all of the others around her seemed to be of similar age or older.
I had my first child at 29. I had married very young by today’s standards, but wanted to acquire a mortgage, and achieve certain things in my career before having children, hence the 6 year delay.
We live in an affluent West London suburb, and I can visibly notice that I am a much younger Mum than most (don’t mean that in a bitchy way). At children’s centres, playgroups etc, the women I’ve spoken with are usually in their early 40’s, and some are in their late 30’s.
In the London suburb in which I grew up, there are still a large number of teen pregnancies, at a time when nationally they are at their lowest level. Also, many girls who were in my year at school started having children in their late teens and early 20’s, and some became mothers whilst still at school.
I couldn’t care less what age I was when I first gave birth, or that I’m pregnant again at 32, but many in the area I live in, and the one I grew up in treat me with suspicion and I’m made to feel like an outsider.