Giving Birth Over 40

CNN has a controversial article today on the high risks mothers take when they choose to have a baby when they are over the age of 40.

They quote Lee Robinson, 44 and pregnant for the first time, who scared the wits out of herself after reading every potential bad scenario that could happen to her and the baby online.

“I’d be less than normal if I didn’t think this was pretty severe, life-threatening stuff,” Robinson says. “All kinds of things run through your mind.”

After quoting a long list of statistics that are sure to frighten anyone, especially someone who has never had a baby before, the article then details the advantage of waiting until you are older to have a baby. Namely, that if you interrupt your career in your twenties to have a baby you will be stuck making $30,000 a year but if you have a baby after your career is established and you are in your forties you will be earning $70,000.

The natural conclusion one comes to after reading this article is that earning more money is more valuable than your health and your baby’s health. It is better to wait until you are in your mid-forties to have a baby and incur all of the associated risks than to have children when you are in your twenties since you will earn less money.

Oh, and Lee Robinson who was quoted above?  She gave birth to a healthy boy and now she and her husband are thinking about having another child, even though she’s 44 years old.

“It’s really overwhelming to think I never thought I was going to be a mom,” Robinson says. “We’re both just absolutely in love with this little baby.”