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Woman in 60s 'pregnant through IVF'

189 replies

Tutter · 04/05/2006 08:36

(from yahoo! news)

raises some interesting questions i think - like why do we have kids? for whose benefit? is she being selfish? or is she as justified as you or i?

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A controversial Italian fertility doctor has helped a British woman in her early 60s to become pregnant, it was reported.

Patricia Rashbrook, a child psychiatrist from Lewes, East Sussex, is now seven months' pregnant after being given IVF treatment by Severino Antinori, according to The Sun.

The newspaper reported she was 63 - which would make her the oldest British mother when she gives birth.

Dr Rashbrook's husband, John Farrant, refused to comment on the story but said his wife

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was younger than 63.
He told The Sun: "My wife is seven months' pregnant. We are of course both very happy and looking forward to the birth. Obviously at our age it is quite daunting.

"I would not call it a miracle baby but an assisted conception. We were aware this was going to come out and we have been preparing ourselves psychologically for the news to break."

Dr Rashbrook, who already has two children from her first marriage, flew to Rome last October for treatment, The Sun reported.

Antinori, who runs a private fertility clinic in Rome, first made headlines in 1994 by helping a post-menopausal 63-year-old woman become pregnant with donor eggs and hormones.

He has said in the past he aimed to be the first to produce a baby cloned from an adult. In 2004 he claimed that he knew of three cloned babies that had been born but refused to produce any evidence, citing legal reasons.

Previously Britain's oldest mother was hill farmer Liz Buttle, from Wales, who was 60 when she gave birth to a son called 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 2005 at the age of 66.

OP posts:
Blandmum · 04/05/2006 16:50

She is, but few women as doing as well as she is. Possibley because she has the money to live a very healthy life Smile

My father died 8 year ago, at that point my mother began to deteriorate, that would be when this baby is 10 years old. Imagine sitting your A levels and popping in to the hospital to visit your doubly incontinent mother......Trust me it is bloody grim, and I am a grown woman, with all the life experiences to help me to deal with it.

elliott · 04/05/2006 16:50

yes but life expectancy AT AGE 63 will be quite a lot more than 81 (because you have already managed to avoid early death which drags down the life-expectancy-at-birth figure which is 81).
I'm not disagreeing really btw, I do think the elderly parents scenario is a difficult one. Having just lost my mother at 39 (me not her!) I am very thankful I had her in my life this long.
I just think that in the grand scheme of things, this isn't really a terrible thing (much less terrible than the neglect some children suffer) and I can't really work up the desire to condemn it.

motherinferior · 04/05/2006 16:51

The queen has world-class health care and has enjoyed a very privileged life; she is not exactly typical of anything. And we wouldn't know if she had dementia as it would be very well-hidden.

Blandmum · 04/05/2006 16:51

THinking about my Aunts by the time they hit their 80s they were all getting increasingly frail, forgetful with the massive self obcession of people of that age......my friend's mothers are much the same.....horrific to have to deal with that at 18

velcrobott · 04/05/2006 16:53

My aunt (28 now) had a father who was 70 years older than her. He died 3 years ago (my grand dad). He was in good health until the least year where he got ill... and went down hill he was well into his 90s.
My aunt for a couple of years didn't like that her dad was so old this is when she was a teenager (her mum was some 30 years older than her) and she use to lie and say he was her grand dad...

motherinferior · 04/05/2006 16:53

I think it is a fair bet than none of us will be at our spriteliest at that age. Clearly, it's not possible to predict how we'll be in a few years' time either, but it is possible to make an informed guess.

bundle · 04/05/2006 16:54

I'm not talkign about teen pregnancies (whole other can of worms) but how/where you draw the line with women who'd like to get pregnant but can't. i'm sure most of us would have sympathies with eg people who had no children, or whose children had died..but less so with those who are as in this case in their 60's.

velcrobott · 04/05/2006 16:54

My husband's gran is 85 and still plays 9 wholes of golf on FOOT every day!

bundle · 04/05/2006 16:56

my husband's gran is nearly 103 and until a year or so ago functioned really well. she had her last child well into her 40s so everything was obviously working pretty well...

Blandmum · 04/05/2006 16:56

having just looked at the Alzheimers society webpage the rates of demetia in those aged 80 and above is 1 in 5. Hellish odds to play with if your child would be 18 at that point.

i'm gladd your grand mother is so well Velcrobott, my mother sits in a chair all day and is fed and changed like a baby.

velcrobott · 04/05/2006 17:00

Who knows how much progress they will ave made in 20 years to cure/fix dementai though ?
Yes the gran's fab... she can drive me bonkers occasionally with her views but she has been living on her own for over 20 years and I suspect that 63yo mum would live with her child so would be kept "younger" in her attitude !

Hopecat · 04/05/2006 17:03

Expat - that woman was hardly encouraged to get IVF. Her and her partner obviously have some cash, and there's always someone willing to do what you want if you throw enough money at them.

Are you suggesting there is a need for legislation? That would be a HUGE can of worms.

Separate point: my Aunt was 45 when she conceived naturally. They didn't have any kids, and thought they were infertile.

My cousin is now 14 and a bright and beautiful girl. However, she does have a morbid fear of her parents dying. Prob something to do with the fact that our Grandfather died in front of her at the dinner table when she was six, but also she is now old enough to be aware of her parents age.

velcrobott · 04/05/2006 17:04

This is on BBC website : Liz Buttle, from Wales, was 60 years old when she gave birth to a son, Joseph, in 1997.

Wonder how Joseph is now he must be 9 and she 69...

SaintGeorge · 04/05/2006 17:06

velcrobott, I'm sorry that it upsets you to hear that menopause happens 'for a reason'. Of course there are cruel exceptions to the rule, nature has some nasty glitches.

I think anyone can pretty much agree though that by the age of 63 a woman is going to be post-menopause. In those cases I am sorry, but I think IVF or any other type of intervention is wrong.

bundle · 04/05/2006 17:08

\link{http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article337250.ece\some of the dr's who help women to conceive}

JoolsToo · 04/05/2006 17:10

i agree SG

juuule · 04/05/2006 17:38

If the odds of dementia are 1 in 5 at 80 that means that the odds of not having it are 4 in 5. 80% chance that an 80 year old will be not have dementia. Sounds not too bad for me. Some people are in a bad way at a young age and some are okay. Same for older people. I find it difficult to discriminate on age.

Humans do evolve. However, sometimes we are left with useless things that were useful once. As with the appendix, mostly it only causes problems as with appendicitis but we still have the remains of it. Maybe menopause is evolving out and is happening later and later (not looked this up but it might be interesting to find out) and we are getting rickety versions of it (premature menopause being an example).

sparklemagic · 04/05/2006 17:41

when I read this it struck me that she is exactly the same age as my mum! My mum is a very active, involved granny with a profound relationship with my DS, but one or two days a week with him is enough for her!!!!!!! I don't think there is ANYTHING that would persuade my mum to do the baby thing again... This woman will be so tired...and in the near future probably unable to do much of the physical 'fun' stuff that needs to be done to keep children happy and not climbing the walls....

I sincerely hope they are sensible and have got some help lined up for the day to day stuff as well as picking guardians for the child for when the parents die...

bundle · 04/05/2006 17:43

tbh juuule, i don't think the menopause came into it, in prehistoric times people just didn't survive for long enough, most were dead & gone before their periods stopped

Blandmum · 04/05/2006 17:44

But evolutuion take place over millenia and not a generation. The age of menopause has remained constant (av 50) over all of the 20th centuary. Although our life expectancy has risen from around 50 or so at 1900 to 81, the age of menopause is remarcably constant.

Taking out the upsetting cases of premature menopause ....which I do not minimise in terms of the emotional and physical trauma it cases.....menopause happens because we run out of eggs. Every girl is born with every egg she will ever have. Boy contrantly make sperm. Around 200 eggs will ripen...they rest die away. And when the last ripens the menopause happens.

velcrobott · 04/05/2006 17:45

Sparkle - I do think it's different i you look after baby day after day compare to have your own routine and then help out twice a week...

On age... my dad is "only" 65 and is completely unfit physically and mentally... he has severe depression... so you also do not need to be 83 to be unfit... you can be unfit well before that.

Blandmum · 04/05/2006 17:46

1 in 5 may not seem bad odd to you, but trusrt me if you see it in a loved one...my mother has it ....those odds seem awful. I was 39 when my mother tried to throw me out of her house, she was convinced that I was a stranger. It took all my life experiences to deal with the feelings that left me with. To have to do it at 17-18 would be utterly horrific.

Blandmum · 04/05/2006 17:47

Oh you aer right velcrobott, you can be unfit at any age but you are far more likely to be unfit as you get older, particularly in your 70s and 80s.

jabberwocky · 04/05/2006 17:52

OMG, just read the post "One reason I can't face having another baby is that I don't want to be 50 with a seven year old, for everyone's sake."

I will be 50 with an 8 year old, so find this statement highly offensive. Just whose sake am I supposed to be considering?

And, as far as the longevity question is concerned, no one knows what will happen tomorrow. Any of us could get hit by a bus and that would be that. FWIW, a month after my son was born, dh and I provided for a guardianship and trust in case anything happened to us. That should be done no matter how old you are.

Blandmum · 04/05/2006 17:55

You are quite right you could be hit by a bus, so could I Smile But that risk is shared by everyone. The aditional risks come with age and are as well as , not instead of. And for what it is worth I am also an 'older mum'Smile

But there is older, and what lies far outside the normal range. And at 63....13 years after the normal menopause, this woman falls into that catagory.

But as others have said, worse things do happen every day.