Woman gives birth at 57 – making her one of America’s oldest new mothers

Couple decided to try for another baby after their 13-year-old daughter ‘died suddenly’ from a brain tumour in 2016

Woman gives birth to baby at 57 (NBC Boston )

A new mother has become one of the oldest women in the United States to give birth after welcoming her newborn son at the age of 57.

Barbara Higgins, a teacher from New Hampshire, gave birth to her and her husband Kenny Banzhoff’s son Jack on Saturday, after three hours of labour.

According to the couple, they decided to try for another child after losing their daughter Molly when she was 13 from an undiagnosed brain tumour.

Following their daughter’s death in 2016, Higgins told NBC Boston that she became “consumed” with the idea of getting pregnant again.

“I started having these dreams that I wanted to have a child, and I thought: ‘OK, Barb, that’s a little crazy,’” she recalled.

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However, after Banzhoff agreed with the idea, the couple sought out an IVF clinic in Boston, Massachusetts, that would treat women in their 50s.

According to Higgins, although the cut-off for in-vitro fertilisation is usually around the age of 55, her doctors were confident that she was healthy enough to handle a pregnancy at her age, which she credited in part to being a lifelong athlete and having good genes.

Speaking to The Patch, she said that, throughout the process, she was pleasantly surprised by the support she received from her doctors.

“No one stood there in a white coat and (lectured) me against doing it,” she said. “I was very much listened to; it was very, very empowering.”

While the procedure did not work the first time, Higgins told the outlet that she became pregnant after the second round of IVF, just days before her 57th birthday.

According to Higgins, the pregnancy was smooth until the very end, when she was diagnosed with preeclampsia, a pregnancy complication characterised by high blood pressure, which could potentially lead to organ failure for herself or the baby.

Although Jack was originally expected to come mid-April, doctors decided to induce Higgins a few weeks early after she checked in to Concord Hospital on Friday. Despite being born slightly early, Jack is “completely fine,” according to the outlet, and is developing as he should be.

As for her experience becoming a mother again, Higgins said: “The whole thing was ridiculously amazing. But, I’m exhausted.”

The couple got pregnant through IVF (NBC Boston)

Speaking with NBC, her husband added: “We’ve beat the odds. I’m so proud of her, she’s been a trooper through the whole thing.”

And while the couple acknowledged that they are older than the typical parents of newborns, they hope that their story encourages others who may have thought they were too old to have children.

“I don’t know how I will be in 10 years, but how will you be in 10 years? And why should Jack not get to be alive because I’m old?” Higgins asked while speaking with NBC.

In 2020, a 62-year-old woman from Illinois became pregnant through in-vitro by using her daughter’s eggs, after previously giving birth to a son at 60, while a 73-year-old woman from southern India gave birth to twin girls, possibly becoming the oldest woman ever to give birth, in 2019.