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In the U.S., teen birth rates are at historic lows. The overall birth rate has also declined, but women in one age group are having more babies - women in their 40s. Bek Shackelford-Nwanganga of the Kansas News Service reports on older moms.
BEK SHACKELFORD-NWANGANGA, BYLINE: Just before the weather turned cold in Kansas, Annie Parsons and her 2-year-old son, River, were raking leaves in their front yard in a Kansas City suburb. River used a miniature, toddler-sized rake.
RIVER: Dirt.
ANNIE PARSONS: Dirt? You're right. It is dirt. Lots of dirt.
SHACKELFORD-NWANGANGA: Forty-three-year-old Parsons says she always dreamed of having kids. But by the time she was in her late 30s, she still wanted a baby but didn't have a partner.
PARSONS: The desire to be a mom was stronger than it was to be a - like, to have a partner or to be a wife. And so I decided to pursue motherhood on my own.
SHACKELFORD-NWANGANGA: With the help of a sperm donor and in vitro fertilization, Parsons brought River into the world when she was 41. Women giving birth at Parsons' age is becoming more common. According to the CDC's Vital Statistics Report, for the first time in the country, births in 2023 by women in their 40s exceeded the number of births by teenagers.
Parsons says there was a lot of heartache leading up to having a baby. She had relationships that didn't work out, and it took a long time for her to conceive. But because she had River later in life, she was able to pursue her career. And now she says her son is her main focus.
PARSONS: I don't feel like I missed anything in the earlier years. Like, there's nowhere else that I'd rather be than right here right now, and that is a gift.
SHACKELFORD-NWANGANGA: Between 2013 and 2023, the percentage of births to moms aged 40 to 44 increased by almost 40%. Anita Li is a demographer for the United States Census Bureau. She says there's been a growing number of women who work, and they have also made gains in higher education.
US CENSUS BUREAU ANITA LI: So as women stay in school or remain in the workforce for longer, they are also waiting longer to have children.
SHACKELFORD-NWANGANGA: Dr. Caitlin Linscheid, a Kansas OB-GYN, says women are better able to plan their families because they have access to birth control and fertility treatment options. She says she's seeing a lot more older patients in her practice, and some of the toughest conversations she's had is when patients think they can delay pregnancy but then aren't able to conceive. She adds women considering waiting need to talk to their doctors because of the risks involved.
CAITLIN LINSCHEID: Things like gestational diabetes, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, including preeclampsia, postpartum hemorrhage, all of those things are increased when we look at women who are delivering at age 40 and above.
SHACKELFORD-NWANGANGA: Lauren Messiah, who lives in Los Angeles, talks candidly about motherhood and her son Onyx on Instagram.
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LAUREN MESSIAH: Today, Onyx and I are going to a business lunch.
ONYX: (Laughter).
SHACKELFORD-NWANGANGA: Messiah had Onyx in her 40s. Like Parsons, she thought she'd have kids earlier in life, but that didn't happen. She had a first date with her current partner on her 43rd birthday. Eight months later, she was pregnant.
MESSIAH: We weren't really trying. It was kind of a oops baby. Oops, knocked up at 43, and had my first baby at 44.
SHACKELFORD-NWANGANGA: Messiah is an entrepreneur who runs an online fashion school. She says by the time she had Onyx, she'd already accomplished a lot at work. Messiah says since her career was her first baby, she assumed she'd be in a rush to go back to work postpartum.
MESSIAH: But as soon as I had him, I was like, no. Like, nobody's watching this kid. We're not outsourcing this. I'm enjoying every piece of motherhood that I possibly can.
SHACKELFORD-NWANGANGA: Messiah says at this age, she feels more emotionally and spiritually mature.
MESSIAH: And I have money (laughter). I have grown-up money. So that's been the best part about waiting, to me. I know he's going to have a good future.
SHACKELFORD-NWANGANGA: Messiah says she feels supported in being an older mom. She says a lot of her friends waited to have babies until they were in their 40s, too. For NPR News, I'm Bek Shackelford-Nwanganga in Kansas City.
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