How old is too old to have a baby?

Today www.ninemsn.com.au reports: A 59-year-old British woman hopes to become a mum for the second time after a London-based fertility clinic agreed to offer her IVF treatment to help her conceive. Susan Tollefsen, who turns 60 in October, is the oldest person to be offered fertility treatment by a British clinic in a move which overturns guidelines on treating women aged over 50.

“I’m still so full of life and healthy at 60, I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t be treated,” she told The Mail on Sunday.

Hmmm, this is a tricky situation, but of course I still have an opinion! While Ms Tollefsen may still be full of life at the age of 60 and may desperately want a second child, (her first was born 2 years ago via IVF) is it the right thing to do? I personally think that she is too old. And I know I am saying that without having met her, or know anything about her health. But in reality when the child is 10 she will be 70, and when the child is finishing school at 18 she will be 78.

I hear countless stories from mum’s aged anywhere from 25 to 40 about how tiring it is to raise children, so I can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to be a full time Mum at the age of 60.

Politician’s have given their opinion: Conservative MP Nadine Dorries has called for parliament to intervene and announce new laws setting an upper age limit for IVF.

“Once you pass the point of natural conception, that’s when you should stop,” she told the newspaper. We need to legislate for this because, inevitably, society will have to pick up the cost later.”

It’s so hard to not be judgemental in these situations, and I do think that a lot of where my opinion is coming from is what society views as acceptable, or see’s as the norm.

You can read the full article HERE. What do you think?

Going out should not be deadly.

It’s been a while since I’ve hit the town and been left standing on the side of the road at 3am, with sore feet, waiting patiently and shivering for a cab to get home. Ah, those were the days. Yes at the ripe old age of 26 I’m over the ‘going out’ scene. From time to time I think, gee it would be nice to go out and have a dance, and then that quickly disappears as I climb onto the couch in my pj’s and watch a DVD with the pooch and hubby. These days our idea of ‘going out’ is dinner with friends at someone’s house or grabbing a bite to eat and being home by 9.30pm. Yes, nanna!

And so, this isn’t a Puff Piece about how I’ve grown old before my time, it is about the real dangers that now face people who decide to go out ‘after dark’. If you live in Newcastle you would have heard the story on what happened in Beaumont Street on Saturday morning. If you’re not a Novacastrian, in the early hours of Saturday morning a man copped a single punch to the head after which he allegedly hit the ground with a sickening thud. The victim died at the scene.

According to newspaper reports (www.theherald.com.au): The man charged with manslaughter, and two friends were shadow boxing outside the hotel when the victim, and his brother left. It appears the accused and his group then sought out the victim’s group.  And according to Police Prosecutor Will Thomas “It doesn’t appear the victim plays a significant role prior to being punched’.

When I first heard this story on Saturday morning as I drove to a friends place to feed his dog, I thought thank God we don’t go out and ‘hit the town’ anymore. But then my second thought was, but if we wanted to, we should have that choice and be able to feel safe doing so. The goings on that occur on a Friday and Saturday night are just plain scary. Look at all the crap that happens in Sydney nightlife. And now it appears Newcastle is catching up.

I don’t expect to bring our future children into a world wrapped in cotton wool where every street is like Ramsay Street. But is it too much to ask for human beings to have some common decency and realise that they’re playing with people’s lives.

People are losing their lives and it doesn’t get anymore serious than that.

Free as a bird.

There aren’t many things that make my blood boil. Ok, maybe there’s a few, and today’s story on Greg Bird is one of them. Apparently now it was all an accident and Katie Milligan, Greg Bird’s girlfriend “didn’t believe anybody would believe it was an accident – here’s a guy who everyone wants to believe is an aggressive footballer,” she told the court.

One word: Bullshit.

If it were an accident as they are now maintaining, and a judge has also believed, quashing Bird’s conviction, then why the hell did they not say this in first place and fight his innocence with the truth, instead of initially blaming it on a flat mate that wasn’t even within the vicinity.

So here we have another footballer ‘getting off’. What kind of example are we setting for those that look up to these people? Regardless now of whether he did or did not ‘glass’ his girlfriend, they have both lied to police and lied to the courts.

I simply just don’t have any more words to say about this other than UGH.

You can read the full news story HERE.