Its just nice to know this is here...and I'll be 44.

rhondab

I turn 44 this year. Never been married. But I so want a child still. I thought maybe I'm "childfree by choice" then I realized no I'm not! I want the family! (not that I dont think people without children dont have families) . So yes I'm 44. Or will be. And the thought of being in my 50's with a kid in elementary school doesnt faze me a bit
I'm happy this is here, because I now have something to work towards. A goal. I need to get my ducks in a row.

mary313

I was 43 when I gave birth... I wish you the best of luck!

Gypsylove

I am 41, but it feels so right, I have a 19 year old son, I've always wanted more children, I would live to have 2, I am fortunate I have strong family support, once the baby gets here. My first iui is this month

DJ3196

This has been a great read. I just turned 40, was married for 10 years with no children and like RhondaB, always thought I was child-free by choice. I always told myself "I'm living now, there'll be time for children later." I've been divorced now for almost 4 years and suddenly realized that time was slipping away. I am a very young 40 meaning I'm healthy, active, social.... I do not feel my age. However, when I expressed a desire to become pregnant last year, I was very surprised by the reactions. I have friends whom I consider to be very conservative and traditional and expected them to steer me towards adopting an older child. Instead, these friends and my extended family were extremely supportive and in favor of me trying to have a baby on my own first. Then look at adoption if that doesn't work. A sibling and sibling-in-law whom I expected would be overjoyed with that idea were completely against it. And not only because I was opting to this alone, but primarily because they felt that choosing to have a baby at 40 was extremely risky to both me and the child and, therefore, selfish. My arguments to the contrary was met with more opposition and, in their very vocal opinion, I clearly didn't know what I was talking about.

I spent quite a bit of time researching the facts and also my own feelings and have decided that I would always look back and regret it if I didn't try to get pregnant. i have always wanted to be a mother and know that I would be a fantastic one. And since my RE and OB/GYN see absolutely no reason why I shouldn't outside of normal risks that any woman would face, I've moved forward. I have kept my decision a secret from everyone except for a very few very close friends who have been just as excited as I am about this, not to mention more supportive than I could ever have imagined. And the best thing is that they are all parents of small children and have been a wealth of information for me.

I'm still shopping for donors and have narrowed it down to two and will go through the IUI procedure sometime at the end of August. It is so warming to know that there are other single women my age looking to do this for themselves.