More and more women are delaying motherhood. Either for sentimental, labor or economic reasons; more and more children are born when their mothers are in maturity. Assisted reproductive techniques offer the opportunity to combine motherhood and ᴍᴇɴᴏᴘᴀᴜsᴇ, and many women are taking advantage of this option.
In Spain, there is no age limit for ꜰᴇʀtɪʟɪtʏ tʀᴇᴀtᴍᴇɴts in women, although the National Commission for Assisted Human Reproduction recommends that the “limit” be 50 years to avoid major problems. And that in private health care, because Social Security in Spain requires that tʀᴇᴀtᴍᴇɴts be covered only for women under the age of 40, and men under the age of 50.
Even so, it is common for us to see women over 40 fulfilling their dream of becoming mothers. Cases like that of Adriana, who was a mother at 66, Christine Boama, at 50, or the most recent, Rebecca, at 44, made headlines in the media.
Now, there is also a phenomenon that is beginning to be more and more frequent: that women over 50 are too. Today we have another unusual case, that of Barbara Higgins, an American teacher who has become a mother at 57 years old.
Barbara was able to see the face of her third child, whom she has named Jack, and who has made her the oldest woman to give birth naturally in the state of New Hampshire. Jack arrives after Barbara and her husband Ken have been trying to ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇɪᴠᴇ naturally without success. Her desire to have a third child came in 2016, when they ʟᴏst their daughter Molly to a ʙʀᴀɪɴ tᴜᴍᴏʀ. After some years of mourning, they decided to do what they could to increase their family. However, Barbara wants to make it clear that Jack has not come to replace her daughter Molly, although she admits that the little boy would probably not exist if the young woman were alive.
“Already then, I felt like an ‘older’ mother, all my friends had already had their children by then,” said Barbara. However, she did not expect that she would experience another pregnancy more than two decades later. The woman admits that it has not been an easy process, but by taking more ʀɪsᴋs, she has lived it with more feelings and intensity. Her husband Ken, at 65, says he feels “younger than 10 years ago” and is prepared for this challenge.
The woman says that the reactions when she said she was pregnant were of all kinds, generally positive. Of course, she has not been able to avoid that many have taken the news in a negative way, accusing her of being selfish for putting her health and that of the baby at ʀɪsᴋ with such a late pregnancy. However, she is clear that she would not trade the experience for anything.
“I have never made a risky decision, and this is not one. I won’t be the only ‘grandma’ waiting for the kids to get out of day care, but I’ll certainly be the only one who’s had a baby of her own,” she says, adding, “Plus, we’re at an age where Ken and I have all the time in the world to enjoy it,” she adds, since she works part-time and her husband is already retired.
It is never too late to make your dreams come true, especially in our time when man lives up to 100 and science can make even our craziest wishes come true! All it takes is willpower, passion, and determination.
However, it must be borne in mind that nature will take its course, and even if scientific methods are used to try to challenge it and more of these ‘miracle babies‘ appear, the ʀɪsᴋs of a complicated pregnancy and the worsening of the health of both the mother and the fetus increase with age. You have to be prepared for all those changes and potential ʀɪsᴋs before making a final decision.
