60-Year-Old Israeli Gives Birth To First Child

TEL AVIV – A 60-year-old Israeli woman gave birth to her first child following a labor fraught with challenges.

The mother, who has asked to remain anonymous, was rushed to Kaplan hospital in the central Israel city of Rehovot after suffering from preeclampsia. A malignant tumor was also found in the woman’s womb, which the doctors were able to remove.

A medical team composed of two gynecologists, two pediatricians, a midwife, and three nurses finally delivered her healthy 2.2 kilogram (4.85 pound) daughter via caesarean section.

The woman had undergone many years of fertility treatments before being blessed with a daughter.

“As I arrived in the operating room a large medical team was waiting for me,” she said. “They calmed me down. Everyone was smiling. The greatest happiness in my life was when the team showed me my daughter. I have waited so many years for her.”

Dr. Yael Naaman, one of the supervising doctors, noted that “the baby was born healthy and strong, and has been passed to a child specialist for further treatment.”

The oldest Israeli ever to give birth was Haya Shahar, a 65-year-old Hasidic woman from the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak.

Earlier this year, a 70-year-old Indian woman, Daljinder Kaur, gave birth, making her the oldest new mother in the world.