Exactly, Lee. You get to the heart of the matter.

Several women I work with have had their first babies at 35 or older. The kids are now teenagers, and everyone seems to be doing ok (even the woman who had a couple miscarriages at 35 or older, then had 2 babies).

To the extent there are problems, it's more along the lines of someone who's high-strung juggling the responsibilities of being a full-time professional plus parenting teenagers plus caring for aging parents with very serious health problems.

When I got pregnant at 35, the doctors here were all OMG Advanced Maternal Age!!! and put me in fear for my life and Mallory's. They said that genetic disorders are more likely with older mothers, etc.

The doctors in Greece laughed and laughed at this.

Who knows? All I know is that I could use the energy of a 25yo, but I'd rather have the patience of a 38yo.

FWIW, my mom was nearly 39 when she had me (her first), and then 42 when she had my twin brothers.

There's a lot to be said for older parents, including more maturity, experience, financial situation, and also the absolute desire and determination to be parents.

However, at any age, parenting is an awesome amount of work and energy!

Fertility starts dropping after about 35 (varies by person, obviously) but doesn't really hit the skids until 40, on average. Downs Syndrome - the most common genetic abnormality - rates increase after 30, but don't get really incredible until after 40 (Wikipedia has a chart). The reason you hear at lot about the age of 35 with Downs is that's the age at which the chance of miscarriage from amnio becomes lower than the chance of having a Downs child. I read in the NYT recently that 90% of women who have an amnio that's positive for Downs abort, which surprised me; most Downs children born are born to younger women, since they tend not to have the screening.

There's also the late-life care of a Downs baby, because the parents are less likely to be around for the long-term adulthood needs of the child. It would be a horrible choice to have to make, for sure.

And of course, I'm a good example of what happens with advanced maternal age: fertility issues treated with meds which cause multiple births which causes preterm labor.

For the first time in 40 years, according to the US Vital Statistics report, infant mortality rates in the US are increasing and not decreasing, mostly as a result of advanced maternal age.

GA: WRT Callie also irked because she's not a better choice. She has done NO teaching. It would have been better to have Halfrek be the chief resident. But of course, contractually, Halfrek isn't a series regular.

Oy.

None that we've seen, for sure Kat. Which is what makes it so annoying - they could have set this up so much better, but now it just feels like an asspull.

Dude. I'm dinking around in Second Life (for my job. Really.) and you can buy an island.

I'm seriously thinking we need Buffista Island.

Hee! Can you run Second Life on the Mac? I'll retreat there with you...

In First Life News, I can't find the 100ft extension cord that runs my grass trimmer anywhere You would think it would be HARD to misplace 100ft of anything, you know?