nature knows best

Martha is 54, raising two children under ten, and considers herself blessed that she had children later rather than earlier in life. She wants to assure all women in their forties who've received dire warnings from their doctors against pregnancy at such an old age that they have nothing to fear.

"Nature knows what she is doing as far as female health matters are concerned and old eggs don't necessarily mean damaged eggs."

"I was 45 when I had my first son and 47 when I had the second one," says Martha, "and I never even noticed when I turned 50 - I was far too busy!"

Martha's husband, Bob, is 64 so there is quite a generation gap in their household.

"The age difference between my husband and I - and the children - means nothing," asserts Martha.

"Bob and I look years younger than our chronological ages and we're the happiest little family you could ever meet."

"I honestly believe that having children later in life is the way to go," confides Martha.

"Up until I was 44 and married Bob I had a glorious life as a single woman," says Martha.

"I did everything I ever wanted to do and when I looked around and discovered that I had achieved all I had set out to achieve it was time to think about settling down and having children."

"At 54, Bob had lead a similar action packed single life and was ready to settle down, too."

"Sure," says Martha, "I took the risk that we couldn't have children - that I'd left it too late - but we would have resorted to medical intervention to get our kids if that had been the case."

"It obviously wasn't the case," laughs Martha. "I had no trouble having my two boys and because I could afford to hire a nanny and a housekeeper to help me over the early years I didn't get frazzled."

"When you have children later in life you're going to be a lot better off financially than you were at 20," says Martha. "and that's another good reason to delay motherhood."

"I couldn't have done it in poverty - at 20 or 45!"

"The best thing about late motherhood is that I look and feel ten years younger," beams Martha. "Having babies gave me a natural hormone boost."

"There's nothing like young kids to keep you on your toes and I haven't had time to think about all the things that women my age think about."

"My time is fully occupied and I am focusing on the boys rather than myself."

"I'll probably be frazzled in my sixties," laughs Martha, "but right now I am enjoying my fifties to the full thanks to my boys."

"I think the worst possible age for women to have babies is when they are in their thirties," says Martha.

"By the time these women are in their fifties their children have left home and they are at risk of becoming far too introspective for their own good."

"Women who have children in their twenties are still young by the time the kids leave home."

"They can get out there and set the world on fire - do all the things they didn't have time to do before - even start a second family if they want to!"

"A fifties woman in an empty nest - with or without a husband," says Martha, "is at risk of depression because to the world at large her life is over."

"She is too old to start a career and too old to start a family."

"In their fifties, empty-nest mothers have not much to look forward to besides the old aged pension and the old folks home," says Martha.

"That would have been my fate had I got married in my thirties and started a family."

"At 44 when I got married I was at my physical peak," says Martha. "I looked fantastic and my body was like that of a young woman."

"You're not old in your forties but you are old in your fifties if you don't have a young family to keep you alive."

"And I don't mean grandchildren - I mean your own children!"

"Some may call me selfish and say my boys will grow up to hate their old parents," adds Martha, "but that fate awaits most parents whatever their age."

"What kid ever thinks his or her parents are young?"

Martha's story first appeared as late life motherhood