A 67-year-old woman has given birth in China, reportedly becoming the oldest to conceive a child naturally.
The woman – who has only been identified by her surname, Tian – gave birth to a girl in Zaozhung Maternity and Child Health Hospital, where she used to be a doctor before retiring.
A spokeswoman for the facility told China’s CCTV News that whilst Tian conceived the baby naturally, she experienced heart failure and abnormal liver and kidney function as the due date approached.
Liu Chengwen, a chief physician at the hospital, said: “When we examined the woman’s reproductive system during her labor, we found that she, unlike most other women in their 60s who have withered ovaries, has ovaries similar to that of a woman in her 40s.”
Tian has two other children and admitted they were opposed to their parents having a child at such old age.
She said: “My daughter even said that if I gave birth to this little baby, she would sever all ties to us.”
According to a CNN report, Tian fell pregnant naturally after using her medical knowledge to self-administer traditional Chinese fertility treatments. The baby was delivered via a cesarean section. “We were quite lucky, given that the mother was at an advanced maternal age and had a variety of complications,” Liu Wencheng, the physician in charge of the delivery, told CCTV. The baby reportedly weighed 2.56 kilograms (5.6 pounds) at birth.
