Actress Hillary Swank Pregnant with Twins at 48

[NotUrsula]

This may be a dumb question but I thought I read that the trend of society is that women are having babies at a later age (30+) than a younger one (20+). So is it just becoming more common that women are having babies in their 40’s due to culture/medical advancements?

What you're missing is the distinction of how old women are when they have their *first* child. As a rule, carrying to term again after successfully having done it at least once tends to be become easier each time until you start getting close to menopause. It's a curve with a finite end point, and the older you are when you carry your first child, the more difficult it is to stay on the curve.

Maternal age at first birth has indeed been consistently rising over time, but for women who already had done it at least once, giving birth again after age 40 was completely normal up until the mid 1960s, when oral birth control pills became widely available to married women, at least in the US. Before reliable hormonal birth control, the majority of hetero women who had regular relations gave birth the first time within 2 years of getting married, and commonly did it again roughly every 2-3 years after that until menopause sometime close to age 50 or so. Absent the use of birth control, that's still the case. What has changed is that we commonly use hormonal birth control to delay first pregnancies until much later, and use it again to limit family size.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I wish Ms Duff well with her pregnancy and life with twins! I had mine at 35 and I think that was a good age from both a physical (ie stamina) and financial perspective, although from a health standpoint, like many others do, I had some health issues at 41 that I had to battle while my kids were young that caused me a lot of worry. (Thankfully I am still here.) I was also born as a “late in life“ baby so on both sides of my family am among the youngest cousins with some up to 20 years older. We had started to try for a family several years earlier than we did but ran into trouble. I’ve always felt there are pros and cons to each - starting a family very young, and starting a family when older. If I had to state an ideal, I would say mid to late 20s to early to mid 30s is about perfect, IMO. I was also working a tough job with overnight hours when I had mine, so I felt exhausted a lot of the time (and much of their younger days is now a blur). But I did have help, and that makes a big difference. (My DH was equally hands-on, my mother lived with us, I hired people to babysit so I could try to sleep a bit, and my kids also went to part time child care/preschool when old enough.)

But from an evolution standpoint, from what I have studied (so unable to provide a link), females were meant to have babies in their teens. Having a baby in the 20s was considered older. So in modern times, having babies in our 30s and 40s is really pushing it. Women are born with all the eggs they’ll ever have, and their quality diminishes as they get older so that functioning the way they’re supposed to (in conception) lessens. (For some this can happen very early.) Sure, conception can still occur in the 40s but it’s not generally as easy as when younger. (Fertility has a lot to do with both partners, so if a male is highly fertile with a woman who is highly fertile, then great. Alter those variables for either partner having lower fertility, then it gets harder. Both partners with lower fertility makes it hardest, though it can still happen, odds are just much lower each month. Assisted reproductive therapies can overcome some of these issues today, but not always. It can be a hard road to go down, with outcomes never guaranteed.)

 

[TipsyTraveler]

I just looked it up out of curiosity and, as of the last US Census, the average age for a woman to have her first child is now 30.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Back when life expectancy was 40-ish, women needed to have babies in their teens to keep the human race multiplying and replenishing the earth. Back then the young moms were SAHM, mostly in rural areas. not pursuing a college degree, or a lucrative career. A pediatrician told me that less than 200 years ago, half of all babies didn't survive past the age of two. Times have changed.

 

[Imzadi]

I like Hilary's work, although I don't know much about her personally. I like that she didn't succumb to the hyper-sexualizing of women actresses just to get more work. But, always stuck to intelligent roles, even if it meant she didn't work as much.

For instance, this cruel remark about her LOOKS, what does that have to do with anything? She's got two Oscars, to what this guy doesn't have. Were mens photos put up like this too?

Nice! But is she hot?

From what little I know about her:

Not as tired as someone who can't afford the kind of help I'm sure she'll have at her disposal.

But, you know, she apparently tried a long time for this and they have means, so I'm very happy for her and wish her the best.

I remember in an interview years ago, that she mentioned she and her mother were homeless at one point. They lived in their car for a while.

And years later, mentioning in another interview, when she was trying to fill a prescription, she didn't have the money for it. The pharmacist looked at her in disbelief and said, "But, you won an Oscar a year and a half ago. How do you not have the money or insurance to cover this?" She said wining the Oscar didn't mean she had a lot of money a year and a half later. And not succumbing to be cast in the hyper-sexualized roles, meant she no longer was not acting, nor had SAG insurance.

That Hilary and her husband now have the financial means to have been able to afford fertility treatments - if she had needed them at her age, to be able to afford twins, and possibly a nanny to help them take care of the kids, I'm also happy for them.

Hilary is now in a new TV series. I watched the first episode last night. I like it so far. I'll give it a few more episodes. If it's successful, she will definitely need nannies to help her with the kids while she's filming. Again, I am happy for a woman who worked the bootstraps off of herself to get her accomplishments.

 

[mom2rtk]

I remember in an interview years ago, that she mentioned she and her mother were homeless at one point. They lived in their car for a while.

And years later, mentioning in another interview, when she was trying to fill a prescription, she didn't have the money for it. The pharmacist looked at her in disbelief and said, "But, you won an Oscar a year and a half ago. How do you not have the money or insurance to cover this?" She said wining the Oscar didn't mean she had a lot of money a year and a half later. And not succumbing to be cast in the hyper-sexualized roles, meant she no longer was not acting, nor had SAG insurance.

That Hilary and her husband now have the financial means to have been able to afford fertility treatments - if she had needed them at her age, to be able to afford twins, and possibly a nanny to help them take care of the kids, I'm also happy for them.

Her humble beginnings had nothing to do with my comment. I'm thrilled for her. My 3 kids were all born with the help of a fertility specialist.

And she will still be better able to cope with the demands of newborn twins at 48 with the kind of help she'll have at her disposal.

 

[Imzadi]

Her humble beginnings had nothing to do with my comment. I'm thrilled for her. My 3 kids were all born with the help of a fertility specialist.

And she will still be better able to cope with the demands of newborn twins at 48 with the kind of help she'll have at her disposal.

I'm agreeing with you. I'm very happy for her too. Sorry that wasn't made clear.

 

[WDWJDS]

.

And she will still be better able to cope with the demands of newborn twins at 48 with the kind of help she'll have at her disposal.

How do you know what she’ll have at her disposal?

 

[mom2rtk]

How do you know what she’ll have at her disposal?

You don't think she can afford help?

 

[DLgal]

How do you know what she’ll have at her disposal?

With a net worth of $60 Million, she will be fine.

 

[WDWJDS]

You don't think she can afford help?

Possibly (maybe even probably, but didn’t someone state that even after she won her Oscar, she was broke ). I don’t assume anything.

And just because she could afford help with her children, doesn’t mean she will hire help for them. She may be able to “afford” to stay home with them and not work again for years. We don’t know what her plans are.

 

[Buzz Rules]

With a net worth of $60 Million, she will be fine.

With twins she might need $70 million, for the gold plated double stroller. (Joking)

 

[LSUmiss]

Maybe she can afford help but won’t want it. I can afford help but didn’t want or need it. I didn’t have twins but was/am an older mom & DS has significant health issues for first 4 mos of life. My sister (also an older mom) does have twins AND works night shift as a nurse but only uses help a couple hours a day & only if absolutely necessary b/c she prefers to just do it herself.

 

[Imzadi]

She may be able to “afford” to stay home with them and not work again for years. We don’t know what her plans are.

She's actually stars in and executive produces a new ABC TV series that premiered last week. Since it premiered in Sept, and not during the mid-season break or on a cable channel, it's likely to be a full series (to May,) if it doesn't get cancelled.

The first episode was very intelligently written. Hilary plays a hard core, abrasive, tough, news reporter from NYC. She was brought up there to investigate the murders of indigenous women up in Alaska. It is based on the very real life statistics that many, many indigenous women up there are murdered all the time and the police, the government officials, and the community up there just don't care enough about these women to find their killers, and bring justice to these women, or peace for their families.

I expect this mystery will be a season long storyline. Then next year, (if the series continues,) it will be highlighting some other case up in Alaska that we don't know that happens in real life up there.

 

[QueenIsabella]

She's actually stars in and executive produces a new ABC TV series that premiered last week. Since it premiered in Sept, and not during the mid-season break or on a cable channel, it's likely to be a full series (to May,) if it doesn't get cancelled.

The first episode was very intelligently written. Hilary plays a hard core, abrasive, tough, news reporter from NYC. She was brought up there to investigate the murders of indigenous women up in Alaska. It is based on the very real life statistics that many, many indigenous women up there are murdered all the time and the police, the government officials, and the community up there just don't care enough about these women to find their killers, and bring justice to these women, or peace for their families.

I expect this mystery will be a season long storyline. Then next year, (if the series continues,) it will be highlighting some other case up in Alaska that we don't know that happens in real life up there.

And, she already slept with an Alaskan guy, so they could easily work a pregnancy into her role, if they chose to.

 

[Imzadi]

And, she already slept with an Alaskan guy, so they could easily work a pregnancy into her role, if they chose to.

Oh, you're right! I'm no prude, but I did think it was awfully quick the way they fell into bed. I didn't make the connection. But, there are only so many puffer jackets and big purses & shopping bags that a newspaper reporter can have to constantly hide a pregnancy of twins behind.

 

[Nora03]

We watched the first episode of her new series too and really liked it. It’s long past time that this issue is given more attention. It’s a major problem in Canada too and these women and their families don’t deserve this. I agree with your surprise at them going to bed so quickly, but I’m old and probably don’t know what happens in the dating world. I’m thrilled for her expecting twins.

 

[Imzadi]

We watched the first episode of her new series too and really liked it. It’s long past time that this issue is given more attention. It’s a major problem in Canada too and these women and their families don’t deserve this. I agree with your surprise at them going to bed so quickly, but I’m old and probably don’t know what happens in the dating world. I’m thrilled for her expecting twins.

I think, for me, the surprise of Hilary's character ending up in bed so quickly is that she had already received phone calls by some guy warning about not doing the story. I would have thought, as a reporter, she'd have been a bit more guarded, lest her dead body ends up dumped in the same place all the women she is investigating were found.

How sad that this is a major problem in Canada too.