Don’t Delay, Have Kids Today! (Or Else)
September 16, 2011 1 Comment
If you’re a young woman, you probably dread hearing people talk about your body as if it was a ticking time bomb.
Alas, a recent report released by the Canadian Institute for Health Information is telling us that women are procrastinating when it comes to getting knocked up, and they’re facing dire consequences as a result.
Women who delay pregnancy until they’re over 35 are at greater risk of diabetes, hypertension and giving birth prematurely, which may affect the infant’s development as well as cost the hospital more money.
Even though this “three-year project is the first large-scale study in the country to quantify risks older moms and their babies face,” I don’t feel particularly enlightened. For years, we’ve been hearing how women in their 40s are taking a chance when they follow through with planned (or unplanned) pregnancies.
I don’t doubt the veracity of this research. Past our physical prime, it’s no wonder that childbearing becomes increasingly complicated. Then again, we still see many women defying age and scary statistics (like “a staggering 41 percent of mothers over 40 had caesarean section deliveries”) to have kids later in life. But should they be?
Well, of course. It’s easy to say that more Canadian women are “delaying” pregnancy, but we must recognize each case is different and involves unique cultural, social and economic factors. Maybe you don’t meet the right man until later in life or you focus on your career so you can support a family. The scenarios are endless.
It is good to know the risks so we can try to combat them in any way we can (mainly by taking good care of ourselves), but do we really need to be reminded that we’re slowly watching sand disappear from an hourglass?
The study also neglects to mention that middle-aged women with normal and healthy children exist. Perhaps it’s not ideal to wait too long, but if a woman knows the risks and has kids despite them, that’s her prerogative.
When it comes to babies, it’s clear that life follows no formulas.
Contact the author here: tinybart@morningquickie.com
My mom had me at 36 and my sister at 40. We were both healthy babies (and are now healthy young adults) and she was a healthy mom with no complications during labor. It was my parents’ choice to have kids at that stage in their lives and they did so with complete awareness of the possible risks they were facing, but they were both in perfect conditions to have babies (they made sure by taking all the tests that were needed). Plus, being more mature,they were better prepared emotionally, and finantially!! So what if women no longer see bearing children as their only or top priority in life?? If they choose to wait and they take every precaution to make sure their babies (and the moms themselves!) won’t suffer, I don’t see how anything can go wrong…