Maria de la Luz from Mazatlan off the coast of Mexico, claims she is six months pregnant and is due to give birth by cesarean in July.
The 70-year-old has well surpassed middle age and already has seven children. Although she will have assuringly gone through menopause, she says she has ultrasounds to prove her pregnancy. However, skeptics are finding it hard to believe saying it’s pretty much impossible.
When asked about her pregnancy, Maria said she presumed she was pregnant about three months ago when she started feeling abnormal pain in her legs and began to experience fainting and vomiting spells.
The doctors said they couldn’t believe it ‘They told me it is a girl. Look, you can see her little face,’ she told local news while pointing to the blurred photos. ‘Now they have done around 10 ultrasounds in a private clinic and in the (public) social security hospital.’
Maria’s seven other children aren’t too happy with her news though and have said she is too old to be having another child. But she disagrees with them and claims she is perfectly healthy enough to give birth.
Mothers over the age of 35 automatically increase the risk of delivering a baby with genetic complications that could lead to Down syndrome and risk a miscarriage or stillbirth. Health risks to the baby and the mother are increased the older the mother is.
Russell S. Kirby, Ph.D. of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, conducted a study on 24 women who conceived via IVF using donor eggs and gave birth between the ages of 50 to 65. He compared his results with 99 women between the age of 45 to 49 and more than half of the mothers over 50 years of age were hospitalised during pregnancy compared to 22% who were below 50.
‘Women who contemplate a pregnancy in their 50s need to be made aware that they face increased risk and so do their babies,’ Kirby tells WebMD. ‘But that doesn’t mean that [late-life] pregnancies should not be attempted. I would be a strong advocate of patient choice in this matter, but women have to know the risks,’ he warns.
If Maria does give birth, she will become the oldest mother in history beating Maria del Carmen Bousada de Lara of Barcelona, Spain who currently holds the title for world’s oldest mother. She gave birth to twins via C-section in 2006 age 66 after lying about her age in order to receive IVF treatments. She herself was criticised by her family who called her “selfish and irresponsible”.
Unfortunately, she passed away three years after her babies were born leaving her sons orphaned.