Woman, 57, thought she had cancer until doctors told her she was 30 weeks pregnant

[TheBlonde]

Woman, 57, thought she had cancer until doctors told her she was 30 weeks pregnant

She did have IVF though

I think it will be hard for the child to have such an aged mother

Pruners I agree entirely with your lovely post. But I think it's OK to raise eyebrows at the lack of wisdom im their choice of footwear.

well compared to the world record breaker of 67 yrs old, 57 seems not so bad .

besides I'm sure we wouldn't be phased if the father was 57 and the mother was 46. So maybe its not such a big deal!!

In response to walnut, if in my situation, my fathers wife died and left him with the care of a young child, he would come to rely on support from his family, as I would if anything happened ot my dh, except I would be looking to my parents and IL's, wheras he would be looking to his children, given similar circumstances where the sole care of children is passed onto grnadparents when parents die should the kids be put in care rather than left in the unreliable care of older guardians

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This is a difficult one for me to get involved in, some of you may know me, I had triplets when I was 46 and my husband 57, this was after 2 years of ivf following the sudden death of our only son (14) in 1994. I sailed through the triplet pregnancy, put only a stone and a half on, no stretch marks, was absolutely fine. Gave birth to three healthy babies from donated eggs. I was 56 last Sat, husband is now 67 and the trio are 10. I stand at the school gates with Mums who were in the same class as my darling Matthew, he would be 29 now. When we had Matthew my DH worked as an engineer on the cross channel ferries doing an average 60 hour week, so for almost half of Matthews 14 years he wasnt here with us. When the trio were born he took early retirement, so they have two full time parents who are always here. The whole debate is about her age, <strong>her</strong> age, it never seems to matter as in our case that the father is <strong>too</strong> old. Ok if I am totally honest I would love to turn back my clock and be a few years younger, I am told I dont look my age, but I am 56. I believe at this stage it does not bother the kids because they do not know any different, and I know I have more energy than alot of the younger Mums at that school gate. Their friends all seem to love coming here because they say we are "cool and fun"! We none of us know what is around the corner, I could have died when I was 30 leaving a 3 yr old, 2 yr 6 children in our school both lost their Mums last year to cancer. It is their life, I hope that Freya will be a healthy happy child and can only say that she will bring them great joy..........are we ever too old for that?

Triplets -how wonderful.
Of course no one is too old. Even the father of Julio inglesias who had I think 2 children in his 80s and 90s wasn't too old. I know two mothers who have died in their 40s and left the fathers to bring up children alone. You can never be sure at any age how long you have to live. I had my first at 22 but even now at 46 I wouldn't rule out another if I were with someone and he wanted a child and it were possible. I am as fit at 46 as I was at 22, fitter, more settled, better off and having the 4th and 5th when I was 36 has been wonderful, as if you have the wisdom of a grandparent because you've been a mother for so long already with it still actually being your own child.

As with so many areas from girls being sexual to mothers staying at home the press/people always get at women, huge inbuilt mysogynism throughout our culture in many men and women that needs to be kicked in the teeth, this philosophy that women are always in the wrong.

I think it's wonderful she's having this child.

Thank you, I thought everyone would shout me down!

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Haven't read the whole thread, just wanted to say that this is bound to be another example of the media sexing things up to pull in the readers. I am very skeptical that a 57 yr old woman having IVF could get to 30 weeks without realising she was pregnant- surely if she was one tenth as desperate to have a child as she says she is, she would have been putting 2 and 2 together as soon as she starting developing a bump.

I think they've taken a "57 yr old gets pg" story, deemed it not interesting enough to be news and embellished it to sound like she didn't know.

In fact if it weren't for the IVF I wouldn't be so cynical. My own mother thought I was some awful condition when she fell pregnant at 38, 11 years after her fourth and "final" baby. She didn't believe the doctor when he told her she was pregnant.

Lovely post, triplets.

I know someone who was in her 40 and had given up hope of conceiving years ago. she didnt know she was pg until she was admitted to hospital in labour. Its not that unusual

I am at some of the comments here. Why shoudl it not be allowed? There is always soemone whinging on on MN about things like this....should't have a baby if you are on benefits.. a single parent...older parent

what about disabled people - shoudl they not be allowed to have kids in case they die young or other children tease their children for having disabled parenst?

there are lots of MNers whose partners have died - shoudl they not have had kids in case this happened???

her Dh is 47 - if a woman posted here saying she was 47 and pg and her Dh was 57 and they had been TTC for years, would you be saying the same things????

Triplets - fantastic post and I have jsut looked at your profile - 57!! - I think you may be making that one up!

I just looked - looks wonderful and gorgeous triplets. I remember the early outings with my twins - we could hardly get round Tesco for all the people stopping us for a peek. having three must be even more amazing.

lillibet I am 56, not 57! Feel 56 is bad enough! Thank you for your kind replies!

Good for her!
Why not?
She sounds like she will be a terrific mother.

Lovely post triplet. I looked at your pictures too.They are all gorgeous,your children (as are you)

I loved your post Triplets too and I thought the artical was lovely too.

My twins are IVF who is to say we wouldn't have carried on forever on the hideous IVF rollercoaster. Those of you who were lucky enough to be in a position and able to concieve when young thats great but I do think it's wrong to judge others when you haven't walked in their shoes.

I am thankful I didn't concieve when I started trying as being older(40 this year) I'm a far better parent than I ever would have been at 30, that's just me. I travelled and did a lot of things I wouldn't have done in those years.

I know 40 isn't as old as the lady in the artical but I think you're as old as you feel. My fil is in his late 70s thinks nothing of cycling 16 miles and leads a far fuller and active life life than many men a third of his age