Stories of Pregnancy & Birth over 44 years old

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Pauline Lyon Age: 63. Mother of Brodie, seven, Lauren, 11, and Lisa, 36. She is married to David, 62

When David and I got married 16 years ago we immediately discussed having a baby to seal the marriage. I already had a child from a previous marriage and he had three. We tried to conceive naturally, but when nothing happened we underwent tests and decided to try IVF. It's very emotional and splits a lot of families up, but it brought us closer together. I was 51 when I had Lauren and 55 when I had Brodie. We went to two clinics in the UK. It took three attempts for both of them. We spent £7,500 on having Lauren and £11,000 on having Brodie, but you can't put a price on a baby.

People don't say anything now, but they did when we first had Lauren. Some were for it, some were against. There were one or two in the supermarket who thought I was Lauren's grandmother. It didn't bother me. You expect it really.

Lisa was a bit upset at first over Lauren. She was just stunned to think that her mum was pregnant at the age I was. But she gets on with them really well. I do all the things that other young mums do, such as the school run. Being older you have more patience and you're better off financially. Everything else is the same. You try to do the best for your children and give them the sort of things that you never had.

The only disadvantage to being an older mother is that you might not be around when they're grown up. It makes me feel awful really, but you can't dwell on it. We have made provisions for them. They both have bank accounts.

They know I'm older than other mums, I've told them, but children take that in their stride. It's not a problem for them. Lauren has said she does worry sometimes about her mum dying, but she hasn't spoken about it to me.

It's lovely to wake up to them every morning. Brodie especially is very affectionate. They come into my bed and we have cuddles and kisses. It's brilliant. I wouldn't be without them. Whatever we do, wherever we go, they're always with us. We never palm them off on other people. We like going to car boot sales, and I take them swimming occasionally and to the coast. We're like any other family.

I never feel tired. All the younger mums come up to school and stand there saying: "I'm knackered today." I never feel like that. I don't feel any different from when I was bringing up Lisa.

I'd have another one next week if we could afford it. Two years ago we went to Italy to see if the doctor who treated me would treat me again. He said he would, but then we had loads of tests and my blood pressure was a bit high. He said if I got it down, and it was OK for three months, he would treat us. But we've just moved house so it's on hold at the moment because of the cost. I gave up work in a circuit board factory a couple of years after I met David. I get a pension and family allowance now. David is unemployed at the moment. We'll try again if we can get the money together.

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