Is it normal to have a kid at 39?

I was in my early fifties when my daughter was born, and my wife was in her early forties.

I think there are good things about being older parents. At our age, we were far more capable of not sweating the small shit than when we were young, and social pressure to parent in a particular way - from friends, family and strangers - resulted in a response that was basically, "Thanks for your opinion, but kindly fuck off," rather than insecurity and uncertainty about our ability to raise our kid. Also, we were much more financially secure than we were at the usual child-having age, which was helpful, since kids can be far more expensive than you ever imagine.

I don't know where you live, but I'm sure older parents are becoming more common just about everwhere, and doctors are far more aware of the issues that can arise with older mothers than they used to be.

My wife did have medical issues - including pre eclampsia - which made the late stages of her pregnancy and childbirth a little traumatic, but we think that was mainly because her medical care could have been better.

Obviously, you can't roll back the calendar, and you are the age you are. If you really feel that you want to have a child, try to figure out why that is, and take an objective look at the implications for you in terms of money and time.

One thing that I realised is that nobody really understands what it's like to be a parent until you are one. Even if there have been loads of babies in your family and your circle of friends and you've been watching loads of kids grow up all your life, having your own is a completely different experience.

It's increasingly common. Fertility is lower at that age and there are generally hivher risks, but it is different for each individual. My aunt had her first baby the day after she turned 40. Second at 44 with a miscarriage between. But she's super healthy in general (other than anti vax hippy shit), and had fairly easy pregnancies. May have had pre eclampsia, I can't remember. Unwisely didn't have some pregnancy screenings, too, iirc.

39 is definitely not too old to have a kid. No need to worry about it.

Yeah, sure. Why not?

My co worker just had a kid , he's 49 his wife is 45 and their kid is completely healthy.

My aunt became pregnant when she was 40. She waited so long because she wanted to live her life and be free to do whatever she wanted. I once had a teacher who was 50 years old, his youngest child was 3 years old. He wanted to explore the world before he would settle down and have kids. I think it's normal.

That’s how old my dad was when my twin sisters were born. Where I live 35-40 seems to be the standard new dad age.

My friend’s dad is 50 years older than her and they have a great relationship, another ex-friend was only 25 years younger than his dad and hated him. Age really isn’t everything.

I actually think being an older parent is better, you have more time to mature and grow as a person and won’t resent the child for making you “miss out on being young”.

I have a cousin. Want to know how she celebrated her 40th birthday? She gave birth that day.

It's not unusual but it's an old age to have your first kid. Try be understanding to them and don't rant "how it was back in the day", support them in their interests even if it's much different than what you liked when you were a their age.

In ancient Rome it was considered a sign of leadership to be born with a crooked nose!

It's Normal but exhausting, I had twins at 38 a few years back and I clearly didn't have the energy of my younger counterparts.

maybe not 20s but early 30s is the best time to have a kid as most people will be financially secure and etc so you are fine

It's odd but I wouldn't say abnormal. You are just on the far end of the bell curve that's all.

My aunte had her third and final child at 34. So I guess it is normal.

Cool

Not super normal but should be fine.