I'm Zoe Kleinman and this is Business Daily. Today we're exploring the data and economics around older or

geriatric mothers to use the controversial medical term. Why are many women delaying motherhood?

Women are spending longer in education and trying to get on the housing ladder. And that's no mean feat. You can

begin to see what some of the pressures are and why people are beginning to delay their child

bearing years. How's technology helping? And what does the law say about all things fertility

and the workplace? It's slightly problematic if women rely on technology

and say, well, I'll leave my childbearing much later

because then I can still have a baby.

That's Business Daily on the BBC.

The Huffling... The heartbeat of my unborn baby at a recent checkup.

As I'm talking to you now, I'm not far away from my due date,

and as a woman pregnant in her early 40s,

I've found the whole experience of being what's termed geriatric to be a fascinating one.

I've been treated quite differently to my two previous pregnancies in my 30s, but I'm hardly alone in giving birth at the grand old age of 43. Well over 100,000 women in the US alone have

children in their 40s every year. So why does it cause so much commentary?

After all, it's not hard to see why delaying motherhood makes sense to many. The competitive

world of work isn't always the most accommodating. Having children can be expensive and housing

costs in many parts of the world are prohibitively high, meaning space to raise a family

might not be something available until late into your 30s and beyond. While there's a tendency

to regard motherhood in your 40s as a modern trend, it actually was rather commonplace here

in the UK and elsewhere generations ago. More women were having babies in their 40s in the late 1930s and 40s

than do now, although the data shows they were continuing to grow their families rather than

...