Seven years ago, I was at my local antenatal class preparing for the birth of my firstborn. In my forties and armed with a coloured birthing ball, I looked around and gasped. All the other soon-to-be-mums were at least a decade younger than me. Some were nearly half my age. It briefly panicked me. Would I make any friends? Why did I leave it so late to have kids? Was I doing something wrong? In hindsight, though, I had no reason to worry: your forties is absolutely the best decade in which to have your first child. According to data published last week in The Daily Telegraph, the number of women becoming first-time mothers in their forties has increased in recent years: today, one in 25 UK births is to a woman aged 40-plus. That’s a lot of women just like me, despite the fact that getting pregnant over 35 gets you labelled as someone of “advanced maternal age”. That might sound harsh until you remember that older pregnancies used to be termed “geriatric” – thank God that’s been phased out. I’ve never regretted waiting until my forties, even if I had been trying for children for years by that point. My story is undeniably unique: my partner Alex took his own life while we were doing IVF, but that didn’t stop me from continuing to try to get pregnant. The maternal call was strong, so I decided to carry on with the process using Alex’s frozen sperm. Today I have two beautiful daughters with him: Lola, seven, and Liberty, five. It is an understatement to say I was ready for a baby at 40. I was grounded. Confident. Unlike when I was in my twenties or thirties, I knew exactly who I was and what made me tick. I had life experience. I no longer got FOMO. I didn’t even drink, having been through hell and back to become sober 20 years earlier. My career was fully off the ground, and therapy had helped me identify the family dysfunction I knew to ditch for the sake of my kids. I also wasn’t worried about my body bouncing back after the birth. I just desperately wanted to be a mum. Of course, there are all sorts of advantages to having children in your twenties and thirties. A huge bonus is that you’re simply more fertile. According to research, 31 is the magic age to have a baby – you’re still as fertile as in your twenties, but you also have more money. I’m sure motherhood in your fifties is great, too – although using your own eggs is highly unlikely, unless you froze them at some point before you turned 35. It means that some older mums often turn to donor eggs. Thinking back on my twenties and thirties, I don’t know how I would have managed motherhood. I don’t think I was ready to put my own needs on hold. I can’t imagine how hard it would have been to juggle work and my children, especially with the spiralling costs of childcare. I do accept that there are greater risks inherent in waiting to have kids. Both the quantity and quality of eggs dwindle. The rates of failed fertilisation, miscarriage and birth defects rise with age. There’s also the social pressure that comes with not having children early – you’re forced into endless conversations about the “ticking timebomb” of your fertility, and expected to fend off probing inquiries about your biological clock. The British Fertility Society advises women to start trying for a baby by the age of 32 at the latest, for a 90 per cent guarantee of having a child without resorting to IVF. But this advice simply wouldn’t have worked for me – I was determined to find the right person to have children with, and that didn’t happen until I was 35. When mine and Alex’s attempts to naturally conceive failed, and then Alex died, only at that point did I know I had the maturity to go it alone. I do have some regrets – I wish I’d frozen my eggs at the peak of my fertility in my mid-twenties, for instance (this process costs between £4,000 and £7,000 in the UK). But otherwise, having children in my forties was the right thing to do. Yes, I had my wobbles. I remember sobbing on the bathroom floor after yet another failed pregnancy test. I would berate myself for leaving it so late. I had to force myself to remember that many women experience fertility struggles in their twenties and thirties, too. All of those anxious feelings, though, flew out the window once I had my first child. When I left the hospital to begin parenthood alone, a new bag of nappies in hand, I didn’t have a meltdown. I was just so grateful that I’d had a baby, especially when the odds seemed so stacked against me. Sleepless nights trying to coax my child back to sleep were what I had most desired. It was all so good, in fact, that I went on to have a second child in my forties. I had a spare embryo in a freezer in St Petersburg. Now I call her Liberty. Every day since becoming a mum, I have embraced the mess and chaos, and appreciate every minute. I’m sure my younger self would cringe at the thought of me spending my evenings helping my children with their homework. But I’m proud to say that I’m living my best life. Read More Vanessa Hudgens addresses pregnancy speculation amid Cole Tucker engagement Rachel Bilson reveals she’s suffered multiple miscarriages Pregnant woman has maternity photo shoot in hospital before giving birth Hailey Bieber responds to ‘disheartening’ pregnancy rumours Like Rebecca Adlington, I also lost my baby at 20 weeks Britney Spears reveals she had an abortion while dating Justin Timberlake

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A drink of choice can say a lot about a person, and now one TikTok-famous bartender has gone viral after admitting she judges people "a little" who opt for the world-famous Long Island Iced Tea. In a clip that's racked up over 3.3 million views, TikTok user @soundbowlbae demonstrates how to make the classic cocktail, while making a lighthearted joke about those who order it. "Let me tell y'all a secret," she said."When you come up to the bar and you order a Long Island, the first thing I'm thinking is, 'Is everything ok? Like, is everything going on alright in your life 'cos why on earth would you want four different liquors in your drink?'. "You are getting rum, vodka, tequila and gin all mixed in one. That's just insane." "If you like it, I love it," she continued, before humouring: "Just know that I'm judging you a little bit." @soundbowlbae Recipe .75 ounces of Vodka,Gin,Rum,Tequila add .5 ounces of Triple Sec and Sour add coke to top. For flavors add puree, stir and top with sprite. #longisland #cocktailreceipe #potionsbyp #bartenderlife The clip is accompanied by the recipe for Long Island fan which entails: "75 ounces of Vodka, Gin, Rum, Tequila add .5 ounces of Triple Sec and Sour add coke to top. For flavors add puree, stir and top with sprite." Thousands of fellow TikTokers flocked to the comments with one stunned user writing: "So you mean to tell me a Long Island isn’t made with iced tea?" "Long island the only way to make sure you got liquor in your drink," another said, to which the creator responded: "You ain’t wrong I’m just talking s*** lol." "A Long Island is my go to drink because anytime I go into a bar I instantly forget every other drink name," one user wrote. Another joked: "I live in the UK and this is my favourite cocktail, I never order anything else and I can confirm, I have problems." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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Mum-of-four rakes in the cash on OnlyFans by sexting and sending sexy snaps during the school run A time-strapped single mum-of-four says the key to her six-figure success is sexting on the school run. Whether she’s in the carpool line or watching her kids play sports, Holly Jane spends all day sending saucy messages, pictures and videos to her fans and “doesn’t care” who is looking over her shoulder. The mum-of-four left her recruitment job in 2021 after signing up to OnlyFans, making more than her annual salary in just three months. Now the 39-year-old makes an average of £40,000 ($50,000 USD) a month working from her mobile phone on the go. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter “To everyone on the school run I look like a normal mum wearing yoga pants and texting but what they don’t know is that I am flirting with men all over the world for big money,” Holly, who has 186,000 followers on Instagram (@therealhollyj) told NudePR.com ”I can make over $800 before lunchtime, just for being online at the right time. Just one friend knows what I do for a living. Most of my friends and family still think I work in healthcare recruitment. “My family can get suspicious – my dad in particular says I don’t seem to spend much time talking on the phone for being a recruiter. Little do they know I have increased my income times 10 and now I can be present at home for my kids.” Holly, who is from California, US, is the sole provider for her family since her husband, Stephen, tragically died after an accident in 2017, aged just 31. She used to earn an above average $100,000 salary in her old career, which included medical insurance – but says she hated being “chained to a desk”. The model said: ”Sitting at a desk all day felt like imprisonment. Physically being at my job for eight hours with a lunch break was restrictive and frustrating to me as a busy mum with lots of plates to juggle. “I felt held back and childcare is so expensive that I didn’t have much money left over for fun. I used to joke to coworkers that I needed to find an income through flirting because I’ve always been that sensual person who likes to make sexy jokes and tease. ”My colleagues would laugh but I was serious. Then when OnlyFans came along I felt like I’d won the lottery, my prayers were answered.” Holly Jane set up her OnlyFans account in August 2021 and by October she had quit her job to focus on content creation. She said: “People think you just make videos and pictures to share, and that’s it but now I average around 80 hours a week, I’m constantly on my phone working. ”If my kids aren’t looking I’ll be sexting. It’s that simple. If I’m at a ball game or in the line at the store the people behind me will get an eye-full if they look at my screen. It’s addictive making these lucrative connections with people in the palm of my hand.” But the 24/7 sexting has nearly landed Holly in hot water a few times. She said: “I do a lot of my bikini photoshoots in public and I have to change outfits quickly so I’m always flashing in the park. ”I worry someone could call the cops but they haven’t so far. Mostly people just love to watch and stare. Especially the lawn workers at the park – they aren’t subtle about it but they love the show.” One embarrassing moment came at Holly’s son’s football practice. While she was watching from the crowd she was also working from two mobile phones. She said: “I tried to airdrop myself some pictures of me with my legs spread and posing but I accidentally selected ‘send to all’. “Any parent with their airdrop turned on would have received those images. “But no one said anything. I think they felt lucky to get a freebie.” Even with her impressive monthly income, Holly Jane says she lives a conservative lifestyle and still lives in the same house she bought before her success with her four kids, who are aged 20, 14, nine and three [not named for privacy reasons]. She added: “I still drive a 2006 Lexus and my lifestyle looks the same except that I buy the more expensive designer mom leggings for the school run. ”I save most of my money to build a future for myself and my family. I want to invest in real estate and create a passive income and money for retirement that way.” ”But I do love spending money on my kids. I pay for private tutoring for my kids at $1,000 a month, I have a nanny for my youngest and we love to go on vacations. ”We’ve been on five vacations in the past two months including Arizona, San Diego and at this exclusive coastal town that I love called Encinitas. “The weather is always perfect, it’s a millionaire town so I love to splash out there and make amazing content in a holiday home. “It’s such a luxury. ”But the most important thing for me is being independent and providing a life for my children with everything they need. “It’s so motivating for me to know I can afford to give them a good life and fix their problems. “Money helps me to feel like I’m keeping us all safe and it’s given me my life and flexibility back.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 31, 2023--

One of Virginia's most closely watched nomination contests this election year features a rarity in today's politics: a self-described “pro-life” Democrat