The Baby Moonshot

I had a big talk with my husband over the past couple of days (our talks usually don't begin and end within one session) about having a second child in our forties. To be specific, I am 44 (turning 45 in early May 2026) and he is 42. We are both on board, both wary, both excited. I will need to overhaul my life completely, and to some degree, my identity, to achieve this goal.

So now, I'm sitting here at 6 AM with a coffee and our two cats and I am sorting out for myself everything that I need to do to accomplish the unlikely feat of naturally conceiving and carrying to term a healthy baby number two.

The unlikeliness of my journey resulting in the positive outcome that we wish for is daunting. It's the equivalent of me joining the Navy, overweight and at the oldest possible age and saying "I'm going to become a Navy SEAL." Possible, but fraught with difficulty, setbacks, and potentially busted dreams. It's akin to never having acted before and deciding that I'm going to be a successful Hollywood actor.

My stats:

• Type 2 diabetic
• 255.8 pounds on a 5-foot-6-inch frame (Class 3 obesity)
• Generally depressed

Am I crazy? Probably a little. This is my "moonshot". It's my dream that is so big, so bright, so beautiful that I have no choice but to throw everything at it to try. I know the stories from Reddit of healthy, natural first and beyond pregnancies of women in their 40s. Usually, the successful stories are in the 40-43 years old range*. I am past that. And I will be past that when we start trying to conceive again. I also know the stories of heartbreaking miscarriages, chemical pregnancies, negative test results... I know that my heart is at stake.

But that's not going to stop me. Naysayers be damned. I am ready to break my own heart over this, and won't quit trying until I'm at least 46.

If you're reading this, maybe you're approaching or are in your 40s, too. Maybe you are on your own journey, or haven't started but are thinking about it. Maybe you like to read about other people's transformations. I'm happy you're here, whatever your interest.

I am writing this blog to document my weight-loss and fitness journey and all the bumps along the road to changing my stats and making a baby. I'll also dig into what scientific literature I can find, supplementation recommendations, and perhaps even interviews with first-time and repeat mamas in their 40s. There simply isn't enough content out there from other 40+ year-olds trying to conceive. So here we go.

*my unscientific assessment based on the many posts I've scoured in the last few days