Motherhood in the 21st Century: Part 1- Pregnancy After 35
By: Hayley Bifulco
The trend of when women are having children and the circumstances surrounding that decision has been changing for the last few decades.
The National Center for Health Statistics found that “the number of women giving birth at age 30 has doubled, at age 35, tripled and after age 40 has almost quadrupled” from 1980-2004, Psychology Today said in 2008.
There’s a correlation between going to school and having a family. “The average female college grad (of any race) starts her family at 30 and many wait longer, according to the CDC,” CBS News reported in 2012.
Jamie LeGrand is part of the increasing number of women giving birth over the age of 35. Instead of delaying pregnancy for later to go to school first, LeGrand delayed school and became a mother first…and then again.
LeGrand became a step-mom, at about 20 years old, to a young boy when she married her husband. LeGrand’s first pregnancy came shortly after she got married and she gave birth to her daughter. LeGrand birthed her second daughter four years later.
By the time LeGrand’s stepson moved out of the house, and her two daughters were in high school and middle school, she made plans to go back to school herself to fulfill her dream of becoming a Social Worker.
While working hard to achieve her Associate’s Degree, LeGrand became unexpectedly pregnant with her third child at age 37.
LeGrand had to shift gears in her life in order to raise a new baby, two teenagers, and figure out if she would ever finish school.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWg4Zew_xf0
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