My days are numbered ....

There was an interesting article in the 'Sunday Life' magazine in the Sun Herald this past weekend entitled "Mind the Gap" - it was about the 'ideal' gap between children, the pluses and minuses of larger or smaller gaps. This is a subject dear to my heart - having one of the smallest 'gaps' I know between my children so I read it with interest. It quoted some research done by an Australian group which found that mothers of children with a gap of less than 18 months between them tend to have a shorter life expectancy than those with a larger gap. Hmmmm. I take some comfort from the fact that the research was done on women born prior to 1941, however .....

I then read on the back page of the SMH yesterday morning that some research has been done and published in the latest edition of the Scientific American stating that sons reduce a mother's life span by an average of 34 weeks. Apparently the culprit is the testosterone (of course it is!) as it compromises the mother's immune system and makes her more prone to disease. There is also the fact(?) that sons are more costly to raise, draining more physical resources from their mothers and are less likely to stick around to help their mothers out in old age!

Not looking positive for me. However on discussing this with Hubby last night he comforted me with the fact that his grandmother was mother to 6 boys, quite closely spaced, and lived until she was 93!!!! No need to panic then!