62 year old mother

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5160142.stm

Briton becomes new mother at 62

Dr Rashbrook already has three grown-up children


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A 62-year-old child psychiatrist has become the oldest woman in Britain to have a baby.
Patricia Rashbrook and her husband John Farrant, 60, of Lewes, East Sussex, described the 6lb 10oz boy, who has been nicknamed JJ, as "beautiful".

Critics said it was selfish to have a baby at their age, but they said they were confident of meeting his needs.

They travelled to the former Soviet Union to get fertility treatment from Italian doctor Severino Antinori.

'Extremely healthy'

Dr Rashbrook already has three grown-up children - aged 26, 22 and 18 - from her first marriage, but her husband has become a father for the first time.

JJ was conceived through IVF using a donor egg and was the result of the couple's fifth and final attempt at the process, which cost £10,000.

What is important in parenting is not how old you are, but whether you are meeting all the child's needs and we are very confident about doing that

Dr Patricia Rashbrook


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Dr Peter Bowens Simkins, clinical director of the Cromwell IVF and Fertility Centre, in Swansea, said he and others in his profession considered the birth unacceptable.

"I don't think that it is a responsible decision on her part and I don't think it is in the best interests of the child to have a mother who, when he or she is taking say GCSEs, the mother is going to be in her late 70s," he said.

"As long as people have the freedom and movement there's nothing one can do to stop that, but in this country I think it's highly unlikely that we'll see it happening for many years."

But Dr Rashbrook told the Daily Mail she felt "it was the right thing to do" and she did not feel too old to have a baby.

She said: "We would not have gone ahead if we'd felt we would not be good enough parents.

"We are both extremely healthy and I have always looked and felt very young, but nevertheless we have younger friends with children who have agreed to act as surrogate parents should anything happen to us.

"What is important in parenting is not how old you are, but whether you are meeting all the child's needs and we are very confident about doing that."

World's oldest mother

Mr Rashbrook said the couple had received more than 200 letters, cards and e-mails of goodwill from members of the public and only one, unsigned letter that was "negative in tone".

Dr Rashbrook described her son, who was delivered by Caesarean section at Sussex County Hospital, in Brighton, on Wednesday, as "adorable", adding: "Having been through so much to have him, we are overjoyed.

"His birth was absolutely wonderful and deeply moving for both of us."

The couple said the baby had been nicknamed JJ early on in the pregnancy, but are yet to decide what his full name will be.

Dr Rashbrook is not the first woman in her 60s to become a new mother.

Liz Buttle, from Wales, was 60 years old when she gave birth to a son, Joseph, in 1997.

The oldest woman in the world to give birth is thought to be Adriana Iliescu, from Romania, who had a daughter called Eliza Maria in January last year at the age of 66.




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I just post the stories, for interest.. for everyone

Lord, what fools these mortals be!
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene ii

Voltaire said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

H.L.Mencken wrote:"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein

One word: GROSS

Not only is this gross, but it is terribly selfish. There is a good possibility that this child will be young when its mother is either in very poor health or dies. I'm wondering if the father is much younger than the mother. She's probably some dumb woman with some money and he's probably younger--only with her for the money. Dumb people.

It says the idiot duh is 60.

They are both insane and the whole thing is disgusting - and, yes, incredibly selfish. There's a REASON most natural breeding takes place before 40, people! That's when folks start getting sick and dying!

And who do you think will end up raising the kyd? That's right, the older ones. I'm sure they'll be thrilled.

Oops, I should have skimmed more carefully! If I were the kyds older siblings I'd move across the country--quickly!

My aunt and uncle had their first child when they were both in their late 40's. This kid has what DH and I call "Old Egg Syndrome." We're not sure if he's just naturally bad, weird, and ugly or if those wrinkled eggs are to blame!

One word, disgusting!

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lab mom

It ruffles my feathers so much reading about these older women "miraculously conceiving" via IVF. I mean, isn't IVF only successful about 20%-30% of the time? Why spend thousands of dollars on something where the failure-success ratio is about 4:1? I mean if a woman can afford IVF, she can probably afford adoption (I know how pricey that can get too). I know with adoption there's a lot of red tape and other bullshit, but if one can afford it, why not try and attempt to give an unwanted child a home? The whole "I'm pushing 60 and I need my own flesh and blood clone to go on another day" thing is so fucking selfish for so many reasons.

Like Sherz said, this kid (or kids) might be orphaned young, perhaps even before it graduates high school. Also, I have read that IVF babies are twice as likely to be diagnosed with a severe birth defect before reaching their first year than children conceived normally. IVF babies also have a greater chance of being stillborn, having low birth weight, developmental delays, cerebral palsy, any number of neurological disorders. So not only could this woman's kid be an orphan by the time it's a senior in high school, but it also has a higher chance of being born somewhat fucked up...all because Mommy just haaaaaaaaad to have that baby at all costs.

I imagine that physicians will tell women of these risks before they give the definite "O.K." to go through with in-vitro. It's even more selfish that these women will go ahead with the procedure and risk making another fucked-up kid.

I really wish there was a cut-off age to receive IVF. I mean if a young couple really wants a child and they can't conceive despite all other efforts, then IVF would seems a little bit more justifiable. But women don't go through menopause for no reason - it's Nature's way of saying "You're done having babies - go have a little fun". I just wish more women would understand this.

{end rant}

IN A WAY (please bear with me!), I can "sort of" understand it. Not all of us meet the Love of Our Life in our 20s or even early 30s. So, if I wanted a kyd now or anytime soon (I'm 35), I'd hate to be told I'm "too old", since it wasn't my fault I had to wait for the right man to come into my life.

But 50s and 60s is just plain effing ridiculous and sick!

And I agree that infertility is Nature's way of regulating the population.

BTW, why is it the fundie breeders accuse other people of "playing God" when dealing with pulling the plug on some poor ill suffering soul who has no quality of life anymore, but they have NO problem WHATSOEVER "playing God" with fertility treatments?

i firmly beleive that more and more ivf's now are due to more and more ivfs in the past, passing on flawed genetics, etc.. if you look at nature, sheep, they cast a plugged lamb, nature knows whenits not in the best interests of the race to have a kid, and so makes it happen.

has anyone noticed this, when we were growing up, kids started to look, i dont know more delicate, more intelligent, more attractive, but now kids look like thugs, small craniums, slack jaws.. as if they are reverting to a previous genetic holdover, i have seen kids that wouldnt look funny in prehistoric times now, whereas before you could see an advancement in looks body shape and form..

could just be me.. but i think a lot of these kids are de evolving, into a more primitive and violent race. forget crystal kids, rainbow, etc..

*********************************************************************************************************************************
I just post the stories, for interest.. for everyone

Lord, what fools these mortals be!
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene ii

Voltaire said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

H.L.Mencken wrote:"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein

Wow, Mercuriour, My husband and I have had that same conversation about IVF and evolution. My aunt and uncle used IVF when they were in their mid-forties to have my cousin. He is one bizarre child. He has all sorts of allergies, emotional problems, and ADHD. He has a very pampered life, and nothing traumatic has happened to him to have these emotional difficulties. Physically he is very unattractive. He has huge teeth, and a very spindley build. My aunt and uncle are both PHD's and this kid struggles in school. My aunt and uncle used to look fairly young for their ages, but within a year of having this kid they looked like they had aged 10 years or more. We dread seeing them on holidays because of my cousin's hyperactivity!

but what about the next generation, if the infertility is somehow linked to the genes a predisposition to infertility as they parents suffered, what will the next gen look like..a sort of devolution. its scary..

*********************************************************************************************************************************
I just post the stories, for interest.. for everyone

Lord, what fools these mortals be!
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene ii

Voltaire said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

H.L.Mencken wrote:"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein

But Mercurior, if it is genetic then maybe these people will die out, assuming of course they don't get IVF treatments too! Sick.

they wont die out the ivf people will say we can do natures work easier, gives them more power. thinks of in the year 2525 song.. then you get designer babies.. and so on.. giving a hell of a lot of control to the ivf companies, absolute control over all genetic reproduction..

In the year 6565
Ain't gonna need no husband, won't need no wife.
You'll pick your son, pick your daughter too.
From the bottom of a long glass tube. Whoa-oh

In the year 9595
I'm kinda wonderin if man is gonna be alive.
He's taken everything this old Earth can give.
And he ain't put back nothing.Whoa-oh


*********************************************************************************************************************************
I just post the stories, for interest.. for everyone

Lord, what fools these mortals be!
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene ii

Voltaire said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

H.L.Mencken wrote:"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein

Really scary.

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lab mom