Hey! Who are you calling old?

Ok, it's official. I am no longer considered young. At least as far as maternal age goes. A new study considers a young mother to be onewho is 25 or younger at the time of birth. I will be 1 day short of 27 years and one month old when I give birth (give or take a few days or, God forbid, weeks) so what will that make me? A not- so- young mother? And will these 2 years really affect my baby's odds of reaching the triple digits? (Would she want to live that long?)

This whole thing kind of caught me by surprise because I had been under the impression that I was too young to be having a baby! I hadn't planned on doing this for another 10 years yet, so in my eyes, I am 10 years too young! Let's take a look at my life: I'm working my way through school (graduate school, mind you, but school, nonetheless), living in a studio apartment, driving around in a car that my father sold me for way below market value because he took pity on me and my lack of resources, eating ramen noodles regularly (Does that make me a bad mother? I am taking vitamins and I do eat really well when I'm not eating ramen...) in other words, I am an 18-year-old who mistakenly hit the fastforward button and became a grown-up.

When I first found out that I was going to be a mother one of the first things that went through my mind was "My God, I'm so young! " I thought that for sure I would one day cause my child much shame and heartache for being so '' young''. I could just hear the talk on the playground... My mommy is better than your babysitter. The babysitter they'd be referring to would, of course, be me.

I shared my insecurities with my doctor at a prenatal check-up and she was quick to put me in my place: "What? You're not too young to be having a baby! I get 14- and 15-year-old girls in here all the time! They're too young to be having a baby!" Ok, doc. You've got a point.

The biggest irony? The average age to have a baby in this country is... nothing more, nothing less than 27!