A mom from Flippin, Arkansas believed having a baby at 35 would herald the end of one chapter of her life.
But things didn’t go the way she had planned.
Karla Bradley shared a reel on Instagram looking back at her 35-year-old self, pregnant with her fifth child and convinced it was her last.
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But that prediction didn't stick. In fact, Bradley went on to become pregnant again in the years that followed until she was 43.
Now 45, reaching that milestone hadn’t made her experience of pregnancy dramatically different.
"My pregnancies really haven't been that different from one another,” Bradley told Newsweek. “I feel great the whole time, and I don't have morning sickness. Whether I was in my twenties, thirties or forties, I'm thankful to have had healthy pregnancies without complications. All that worry over the words 'advanced maternal age'... my experience just didn't match the label."
Advanced maternal age has traditionally meant pregnancies where the person giving birth is 35 or older.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) acknowledges that pregnancy at 35 or older is associated with increased risks of some adverse outcomes, although these risks don't suddenly appear on a person's 35th birthday and vary with advancing age and individual circumstances.
Bradley now has 10 children with her 46-year-old husband Lucas: Jenna 18, Samuel, 16, Liam, 14, Evelyn, 13, Inga, 11, Ben, 10, Rosalyn, 8, Cora, 6, Beau, 3, and Laura Kate, 1.
Throughout all of her pregnancies, Karla has never pursued a particular vision of when her family would finally feel complete.
"I've honestly always felt our family was complete—ever since our first two,” she said. “Every child after that has been an absolute blessing, but it was never about chasing some feeling of complete. And I always say, you'll never regret the children you have. After each one, I couldn't imagine my life without them here. Our family has exceeded my wildest dreams."
Finding herself expecting another baby didn't come as an unwelcome shock, either. Karla described her reaction simply as “gratitude and thankfulness.”
As her family has grown, she said one of the biggest surprises has been how much she has learned from her children.
“I am more patient and more calm with each additional child,” she said. “They teach me more than I could have ever taught them.”
Life in their household is unsurprisingly busy. With her children's friends regularly visiting too, Karla said there can be between 12 and 14 or more children at the house at once.
“There's always something going on,” she said. “I love watching the bonds form between them and the love they have for one another.”
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Charlotte Nisbet and Paul Donnelley.