A 66-year-old single woman from Switzerland truly defied the odds a couple of weeks ago when she gave birth to a set of twin boys, who were conceived using IVF. Considering that these are her first children, and presumably the only ones she will ever have, saying that she waited a long time to become a parent is a true understatement.
Most women typically think that they are too old to have a baby once they get into their 40s, but I guess this lady's biological clock started ticking way later than expected, to say the least. She even had to go to the Ukraine for the IVF because she was deemed too old for the procedure in Switzerland.
Of course, every party has a pooper, and there are already people who are criticizing her for having the babies at such a mature age -- saying that she's irresponsible and selfish, blah, blah, blah. But whoever said that there has to be an age limit on motherhood?
I'm sure that this woman isn't stupid, and she probably thought very long and hard about this decision before undergoing IVF to try and get pregnant. And I'm sure that her age and the fact that she will be a very old woman when her children grow up crossed her mind more than once. However, it's pretty hard to fight the innate desire to want to experience the miracle of having a baby.
Being a mom definitely isn't an easy job, so if she's eager and willing to take on children even though she's past her prime child bearing years, then I say more power to her! She was obviously in good enough physical shape to get pregnant and deliver her babies in the first place, so it sounds like even though she is 66 years old, she isn't exactly what you would typically think of as "elderly." There's no reason that the number of years she's been on this earth have to indicate what she can and can't handle, both emotionally and physically.
These two little miracle babies were obviously meant to be, so people should just be happy for her and celebrate their birth instead of tearing her apart because she isn't exactly a spring chicken anymore. And as for the argument that she won't be around long enough to take care of her kids, who are we to determine when her number is going to be up? You never know what is going to happen to you in life -- and plenty of perfectly young parents have passed on well before their children grew up due to illness and tragic accidents.
It's unbearable to think about babies growing up without their mother, but it does happen -- regardless of age. Instead of focusing on that, we should just let this woman enjoy the two new beautiful gifts she's been given in peace instead of picking apart the fact that she didn't do things by the book.
How old do you think is "too old" to have a baby?
Image via katerha/Flickr