A QLD grandma has defied medical odds to give birth again at 51.
Lynn Cooper had her first child 30 years ago, she recently welcomed her fifth child into the world, and remarkably, she used her own eggs to do so, reports 9 news.
Baby Harrison is her second child with 34-year-old husband Brad, with daughter Mia being born three and a half years ago.
Mr and Mrs Cooper met online over a decade ago.
Mrs Cooper already had three children from a previous relationship and said originally, having more kids wasn’t on the agenda for either of them.
Mrs Cooper said most IVF specialists were unwilling to help her due to her age.
However, after finally finding a doctor to help them, their second round of IVF was a success, followed by a problem-free pregnancy.
“I actually breezed through it,” Mrs Cooper said.
“I didn’t have any problems.”
Two years later, the Coopers decided to try for a sibling for Mia, and after one round of IVF, Mrs Cooper again fell pregnant.
“They were a little bit astonished because they couldn’t believe that,” she said.
“You’re only as old as you feel,” Mrs Cooper said.
‘Stop terrifying women about having babies later in life’, UK midwife warns
Recently a leading UK midwife has questioned why people are “terrifying” women about having babies later in life.
Cathy Warwick, who was chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives, said women who have babies over the age of 40 face only a “relatively small increase in risk”.
In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, she said: “Even if you have your baby at 42 or 45, it’s a relatively small increase in risk to you if you’re otherwise healthy”.
“I’m not sure why we’re quite so worried about the age issue, and I’m not sure we should be terrifying women about it.
However research does say otherwise
Researchers from the University of British Columbia, Canada, examined data on more than 800,000 births in Washington State in the US between 2003 and 2013 and found the risks do increase in older mothers.
Compared with younger mothers, the risk of severe problems was 0.9 per cent higher for mothers 40 to 44 years, 1.6 per cent higher for mothers 45 to 49 years and 6.4 per cent for mothers over 50.
The authors wrote: “These results should improve counselling to women who contemplate delaying childbirth until their forties and provide useful information to their health care providers”.
“As maternal age continues to increase, the rate of severe maternal morbidity is likely to increase in the future.”
Sonia Kruger was 49 when she gave birth to her first child, daughter Maggie in 2015.
Janet Jackson also gave birth to her first child at 50.
Isn’t age really just a number? As long as you can keep up and feel emotionally and financially able then why not?
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