March 28, 2024, 08:08:42 PM *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: NEW CHILD BOARD CREATED IN THE POLITICAL SECTION FOR THE 2016 ELECTION
 
   Home   Help Login Register  
Pages: 1   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: Woman, 60, has twins  (Read 3191 times)
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
2NJSons_Mom
Monkey All Star
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 11324



« on: May 24, 2007, 10:58:55 AM »

From www.northjersey.com

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

By LINDY WASHBURN and MARY JO LAYTON
STAFF WRITERS

 

A 60-year-old Saddle River woman became the oldest woman in the United States to give birth to twins when she delivered two sons Tuesday at Hackensack University Medical Center.

"Baby A" and "Baby B" were delivered by Caesarean section shortly before 1 p.m., weighing 4 pounds 11 ounces each.

 
"Age is being redefined all the time," the mother, Frieda Birnbaum, told a television reporter attending the birth. "I don't feel like 60. I don't know what 60 is supposed to be."

Birnbaum, a psychologist, and her husband, Ken, a Manhattan lawyer, have been married for 38 years. They have three other children: two sons, ages 33 and 6, and a daughter, 29.

"They're just adorable," Nancy Radwin, a hospital spokeswoman, said of the twins. "She looks great."

By coincidence, Tuesday was also the first birthday of twins born to Lauren Cohen and her husband, Frank Garcia. At the time, Cohen, a Paramus lawyer, was 59 -- which meant she was then the oldest woman in the United States to give birth to twins. Her babies, Giselle and Gregory, were born at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia after a difficult pregnancy.

Managing a pregnancy in a woman of Birnbaum's age was uncharted territory, said Dr. Abdulla Al-Khan, an obstetrician and director of perinatal diagnostics and therapeutics at Hackensack.

The twins were delivered at almost 36 weeks' gestational age, and are expected to stay in the hospital for three days.

Birnbaum underwent in-vitro fertilization last year in a Cape Town, South Africa, center specializing in older women.

She told the reporter, from Fox News, that she wanted her youngest son, Ari, to have siblings closer to his age, and also wanted to remove some of the stigma attached to older women giving birth.

The Birnbaums' Saddle River neighbors described the couple as youthful and excited about the arrival of the twins.

"He's the biggest kid at heart," said one neighbor, describing Ken Birnbaum's love of remote-control vehicles and the hours he spends playing with Ari and other neighborhood children.

Ken Birnbaum is regularly seen rollerblading and biking through the neighborhood and recently bought a BMW motorcycle.

Frieda Birnbaum was "really exhausted" after the delivery, Radwin said, and declined additional media requests for interviews.

"She needs to rest," said Radwin, adding that she would remain hospitalized for a couple of days.

Asked about the family's appearance on Fox News, Radwin explained that the chairman of Hackensack's department of obstetrics and gynecology, Dr. Manny Alvarez, also works for Fox News as a health correspondent.

In Paramus, meanwhile, Cohen smiled on Tuesday as her two children watched "Clifford, the Big Red Dog." "I'm happy," she said, her living room taken over by toys, books and a portable crib. But "it's a little overwhelming."

"Mommy says Happy Birthday," she told Giselle, as the baby cooed. Besides a 28-year-old daughter, Cohen also has a 2-year-old, Raquel. She decided to have more children after Raquel's birth.

"I couldn't throw the embryos away," said Cohen, a lawyer. "How could I throw away a brother or sister for my daughter?"

Cohen and Frieda Birnbaum became friends after Birnbaum read a magazine story about Cohen and called her. Along with another new mother in her 50s, they plan to start an older-mom's club, Cohen said.

"It keeps me young," Cohen said.

The oldest woman in the world to give birth to twins is Carmen Bousada Lara, a Spanish woman who delivered twin boys last Dec. 29, just one week shy of her 67th birthday.

E-mail: washburn@northjersey.com and layton@northjersey.com
 

7139251
Logged

R.I.P Dear 2NJ - say hi to Peaches for us!

I expect a miracle _Peaches ~ ~ May She Rest In Peace.

SOMEONE KNOWS THE TRUTH  

None of us here just fell off the turnip truck. - Magnolia
Sam
Monkey Junky
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 2387



« Reply #1 on: May 24, 2007, 08:45:05 PM »

Well I hope she does not put them down and forget where she put them. LOL

Actually , I hope she has the energy and lifespan to raise them.
Logged

Just a swinging with the tribe
Peaches
Monkey Junky
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 3539


~WE LOVE YOU PEACHES~


« Reply #2 on: May 26, 2007, 07:15:44 AM »

LMAO!  She thinks she's tired now!  I had my girl when I was 35.  I was exhausted.  And once she could walk and talk, forget it!  I can't imagine having a baby @ 60 or even 50 and I'm closer to that.  

Apparently they have the money to make this happen for themselves so I hope everyone is very happy.
Logged

"I bring my better angels to every fight".
Expect a miracle.
pdh3
Monkey Junky
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 3019



« Reply #3 on: May 27, 2007, 05:06:05 AM »

I think this is very unfair to the children, and very selfish on the new parents' part. They will be in their 70's when the twins are teens, and what then? Can you imagine how uncomfortable that will be for everyone? And what if one of them develops serious medical problems? Will the kids have to take care of the parents? They may be healthy now, but as they progress into their 60's and 70's, their health is likely to decline, and she faces a much greater cancer risk, due to having those babies after menopause, and taking hormones to sustain the pregnancy.

Sometimes, Nature just knows best, and science shouldn't try to thwart it. There are good reasons for fertility to decline as we age, because at some point, people are just too old to raise children to maturity.
Logged

What's done in the dark will always come to light.
Sam
Monkey Junky
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 2387



« Reply #4 on: May 27, 2007, 07:39:40 PM »

Quote from: "pdh3"
I think this is very unfair to the children, and very selfish on the new parents' part. They will be in their 70's when the twins are teens, and what then? Can you imagine how uncomfortable that will be for everyone? And what if one of them develops serious medical problems? Will the kids have to take care of the parents? They may be healthy now, but as they progress into their 60's and 70's, their health is likely to decline, and she faces a much greater cancer risk, due to having those babies after menopause, and taking hormones to sustain the pregnancy.

Sometimes, Nature just knows best, and science shouldn't try to thwart it. There are good reasons for fertility to decline as we age, because at some point, people are just too old to raise children to maturity.


pdh3, I so agree with you. I made light of it earlier but it is true about Nature. As a lot of you know I turned 70 this year. Until the past few years I had been in pretty good health. If I had had to I could have managed or at least tried to raise my Grandchildren as many Grandparents are these days but that is without the drain on my body that childbearing can do.

As I have seen many of my younger friends die in the last 10 or so years it does make me aware of how fragile life can be. Probably most folks will think they are their Grandchildren anyway.

I pray for both the parents and the children.
Logged

Just a swinging with the tribe
Pages: 1   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Use of this web site in any manner signifies unconditional acceptance, without exception, of our terms of use.
Powered by SMF 1.1.13 | SMF © 2006-2011, Simple Machines LLC
 
Page created in 9.771 seconds with 19 queries.