Too old to have babies?

Kelly Preston is 47 and pregnant. The actress, who is married to John Travolta, is among a growing number of celebrities (and everyday women) who are getting pregnant well into their 40s and even 50s because modern medicine is allowing them to do so.

I read an interesting CNN analysis of this older mom trend among celebrities that says many of these 40- and 50-something moms are at that age is easy and natural.

With donor eggs – which can cost quite a bundle – women can theoretically get pregnant as old as they want, or as old as a doctor is willing to help them do so.

But I wonder if being in your late 40s when you have a newborn baby would be emotionally and physically exhausting for most women. Sure, there are the super fit, super cool moms out there who could run laps around me at 28, but I don’t think that’s the norm. I already feel like I’m getting old and tired, and I wonder if I’ll have as much energy with my second baby that’s due this summer as I did with my first daughter. And I haven’t even hit 30 yet.

Of course, then there’s also the thought of being well into retirement by the time your child graduates high school and almost into your 80s when grandchildren start coming along.

But I do have to say that an older mom might have a little more life experience and know-how than I did having a baby in my mid-20s.

What do you think – is there an ideal age to stop having children? Even if a doctor and modern fertility practices can help you have a baby, what are the other concerns of getting pregnant later in life?