Pamela Laycock Age: 50. Mother of Toby, aged five. Derek, her partner of 16 years, is 48, and runs a chauffeur companyI'd always wanted lots of children. We started consciously trying at the end of my thirties when I still hadn't got pregnant. I had IVF in the end, which cost about £14,000. I was 43 at the time. I made a conscious decision that after the age of 45 I would give up. It took only two attempts. I was very, very lucky. I was over the moon when I was told the news. It was better than winning the lottery.
It was then quite scary thinking that maybe something would go wrong. We made a decision not to have any tests for Down's Syndrome because whatever happened we would love that child and look after it. But Toby was absolutely perfect.
My husband loves children but it's never been the be all and end all for him to have one, whereas I desperately wanted one. Now he thinks it's the best thing that happened in the whole world. He still has a little tear when he thinks about Toby being born.
My mother was a bit taken aback when I told her I was pregnant, and worried that I wouldn't have the energy - but I do. I'm a London guide, and when I was pregnant I worked up until a week before he was born. I worked with two colleagues who were in their early thirties and pregnant and they were always having days off because they didn't feel well, and they stopped working way before they gave birth. I had no problem at all.
Being older I have more experience of life to share. I have done a lot, so I'm not desperate to travel. I have friends who had children in their twenties who are at university or leaving home and they're wondering what to do now. I'm too old to go backpacking and I'm lucky that I got all that out of my system before I had Toby. We also had a house, so we weren't struggling to get a foot on the property ladder.
I don't think of myself as being any different from other mums. Not many people know how old I am. Most of the mothers in Toby's class are coming up to 40 anyway. At my antenatal class there were seven of us all having our first and they were all in their mid-thirties onwards.
I do wish I had had him younger because I would have loved to have had more than one. We won't do IVF again because there would be too big an age gap with Toby. It's also too traumatic and expensive.
Toby doesn't recognise that I'm an older mum. I do worry that things might be said at a later date. I don't think I look my age at the minute, but nature will take its course and I'm sure people will make comments. Hopefully it will be something that Toby can brush off as it's not an oddity these days.
Obviously, I would like to see Toby married and it would be lovely to see grandchildren. I don't see why I won't. I don't intend to go before I'm 100.
Being a mother is all I've ever wanted to be and it completes the purpose of my life. I love every second I spend with him. It's the most wonderful experience. I think older mums are possibly more appreciative. I used to feel very left out and now I feel I belong.
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