Courtesy Melissa Noble
I always liked the idea of having a bigger family. I'm the youngest of five kids, and growing up, I enjoyed the noise and chaos in our household. I loved having multiple siblings to seek advice from and to have fun with.
While my husband also came from a bigger family with four children, he was satisfied with two kids. After the birth of our second child, he said he felt like he didn't have the energy for another baby at the age of 40.
So, there we were — both with different visions for our family. I wanted another baby to love, but I also respected my husband's wishes and let it go. Fate had other plans.
One day, I was doing the dishes at my mother-in-law's house when I started to feel a bit off. I'd been drinking alcohol, but it wasn't a drunk kind of feeling. More lightheaded and a little bit nauseous.
The next day, I decided to do a pregnancy test. Sure enough, I was pregnant. I was so excited about the news, but I wasn't sure about how my husband would take it.
We were on holiday at the time, and I decided to wait until we returned home to Melbourne to tell my husband I was pregnant. When I walked in the door of our rental, he took one look at me and knew immediately something was up.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing," I said, and started making dinner.
I've never had a good poker face, and he can read me like a book. As I brought out the plates and we sat down outside together to eat, he kept looking at me over the table. "Are you sure nothing's happened?" he asked.
I started rambling about all sorts of random things. "Do you believe in destiny?" I asked.
"I guess…" he replied hesitantly, taking a sip of his drink. At that point, I could see he was getting really worried. I knew I had to spill the beans.
"I'm pregnant," I said, holding my breath.
My husband jumped up and scooped me up in his arms. He said he was so relieved that the news was a baby and not something sinister, like a terminal disease.
"OK, we can do this," he whispered into my ear, holding me tight. A wave of relief drifted over me, and suddenly, I felt very excited. He actually seemed excited, too.
Courtesy Melissa Noble
A few weeks later, we shared the news with my son, then 6, and daughter, then 3. They were over the moon. As the months passed and my belly grew bigger, I could feel my husband's excitement continue to grow too. At night, he would lie with his head in my lap, chatting to baby No. 3, whose sex we kept a surprise until the end.
In August 2022, our baby girl came into the world. We called her Lily.
From the moment she was born, my husband and I were completely besotted with her. Almost two years on, she is the light of our lives and completely adored by us and her two siblings.
Courtesy Melissa Noble
Being an older parent has its challenges. I was 37 when Lily was born, and my husband was 40. Neither of us has the energy we had when we had at the time our other kids were born, and most nights, we fall into bed utterly exhausted after chasing a toddler around all day.
But there are also lots of positives to being an older parent. For one, we're more relaxed and definitely in a better position financially than we were when we unexpectedly fell pregnant with baby No. 1.
No matter how old you are when you have a child, there's one thing that's timeless — and that's the love you feel for your child. That love is immeasurable and infinite, and it gets you through all of the hard times. It makes it all worthwhile.
