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Kate Garraway: ‘Am I selfish for aching for my third child?’

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Despite having two children already, TV presenter Kate Garraway has revealed that she cannot face the thought of not having a third child, despite being told that at 45 the odds are stacked against her.

In an open and honest interview for Femail, mum-of-two Kate asks the question that many older mothers face: Am I selfish for wanting another child or should I just be grateful for the children I have?

“I have tried to quell the terrible pang of regret and envy I feel every time I see a mum pushing a newborn in a pram. But I fail.

Instead, I rage against my diminishing fertility. I feel I’m stranded in limbo between fecund motherhood and the menopause,” Kate writes.

The new Daybreak presenter speaks about how she has tried to get pregnant again after her second child, Billy, believing that after giving birth easily at aged 38 and 42, she was able to outwit Mother Nature. Unfortunately for Kate, that hasn’t been the case.

Despite a fulfilling career, happy marriage and two children, Kate believes she represents a number of women in their mid-forties who are travelling in a ‘no-man’s land’ between motherhood and the menopause and who refuse to accept that they may not have any more children.

“But I have a feeling, too, that there will be those who empathise. I believe there is an army of middle-aged women who will have wept quietly and irrationally for a baby they will never have,” she added.

“Even now, though the weight of medical evidence is stacked against me, I hold a slender hope that I will defy the odds and become pregnant again.  For this reason I refuse to give away the bags of baby clothes that clog my parents’ attic. Neither will I relinquish my sturdy, carriage-built Mary Poppins pram. I keep them just in case.”

Can you empathise with Kate’s situation? Do you think there’s a gap that only a new baby can fill regardless of age?

Or do you think it’s selfish to yearn for another child when you’re already blessed with children? Whatever your view, join the debate by leaving a comment below.

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