Having Kids Later in Life…And Not Regretting It

By ABC News November 10, 2011

I was pretty much the last one of my college girlfriends to get married — three of them were eight months pregnant with their second child at my wedding. So when it came time to starting a family, I was on the later end of things — 35 years old to be exact.

I have no regrets about not having kids earlier. When I look back now, I realize how immature I was. While some of my friends were breastfeeding at 27, I was staying out until all hours of the night, buying shoes I couldn’t afford, dating guys that were no good for me and working late. In short, my life was a mess…and I loved every minute of it.

Did I have an easy time getting pregnant? No. Was it because of my age? No idea. But thanks to Clomid, I have two beautiful (except when I’m about to kill them) children today.

As an exhausted 40-year-old mother of a 6-year-old and a 2-year-old, I often wonder if my energy level would be different had I started younger, but let’s face it – kids have the ability to zap your energy no matter how old you are. And when I start to envy some of my friends who have extra time on their hands because their kids are all in school, I realize that time goes by so fast and I try to enjoy each and every chaotic day that I can before my kids start to think that I’m totally annoying and want nothing to do with me.

Now, as a Jewish mother, I’m pre-wired to want to parade my future grandchildren around in front of my friends so I do hope that my kids will start their own families earlier so I’ll be spry enough to do so. But I won’t get on their cases about it…yet.