HB,

Are you a glutton for punishment?!?! Do not fool yourself into thinking sleep deprivation is invented because you're wanting a baby badly. It is VERY real.

Be careful to not explain away all of the cons of having a child over the age of 40. I can understand someone of our age who has never had a child or who gets pregnant accidentally, giving birth and raising a child over 40. It certainly can be done successfully but I would not recommend it. Both my wife and I were 40 when we had our last child. It has been one of the hardest things we have ever done and there are 2 of us, 2 wonderful older siblings to assist and we have large families when we need extra help.

We were blessed with a healthy child but we both needed no convincing for more permanent birth control after that. These days, the risk of problems greatly increases every year over 40, especially for things like Downs. even with the help we have, I can not imagine how tough it would be to raise a child with physical or developmental issues.

At our age, feeling the love of cuddling with a sleeping baby is what grand-children are for!

p.s. - Sorry again but I'd be negligent to not mention the fact that you have your own issues to deal with. Why throw the extra heavy load of a newborn into the mix? What would happen to the baby if your bi-polar issues went out of control? Don't risk putting a child through that because your girlfriends put on a great face and don't seem to have a care in the world when you meet them for an hour at the park once a month.