Time to Quit

The oldest woman to give birth is either a 63 year old lady from Southern California or a 67 year old woman in Romania depending on who you want to believe. They aren’t the only ones I found as I was looking for the record breaker. I have also known several couples choosing to have children at what I consider an older age, but anything beyond 45 is kind of iffy and 50+ is border line insane. Aside from the risk to the health of the baby and mom, there is life after the birth to consider. The birth itself is the easy part – taking into consideration the baby is using 60 year old plumbing he probably comes out like a dragster out of the chute. The tough part is going to be raising junior, and up until a while ago I had forgotten what it was like to try to keep up with a baby, even one who is well behaved.

Our grandson came to stay with us for a day, which was nice, however I soon learned how very out of shape I am. He is a good baby – I am not just saying that out of pride, he is a very happy child and very fast to boot. Though still experimenting with standing, he can scoot almost faster than a racing husky and I know this because both of our huskies had to really dash to keep out of reach. There are diaper changes, cleaning up, feeding, cleaning up, play time, nap time (maybe) changing diapers, cleaning up – you get the picture. If you are a parent you have been through all this – it has been some time for me so it was kind of a refresher course. Chasing the little guy around the house was a full time occupation. He was fascinated with the dog door, but we didn’t think he was ready for the wilds of our backyard or the possibility of tumbling into one of Yukon’s bottomless pits, so we had to had him off at the pass. The kitchen was also very interesting, he wanted to check it out in the worst way – perhaps the cooking gene is starting to manifest itself.

The point is, even if the baby is a “good baby” how is a 67 year old going to cope? We only had our boy for a few hours; she is going to have him 24/7/365. You have to wonder if she really thought things out before trying to break a record or is just grooming the kid to be the new motor for her wheel chair.