A 64-YEAR-OLD woman from Burgos has given birth to twins via Caesarian section after successful IVF treatment, making her one of the oldest mothers in Spain.
Just a few months after Lina Álvarez, 62, a doctor from Galicia gave birth to a little girl – having had her second child, a son, aged 52 – a mother two years older identified only by her initials of M.I.A. has had healthy fraternal twins, a boy and a girl.
All three are said to be in perfect health.
The woman had gone to the USA for fertility treatment, but returned to the cathedral city of Burgos (Castilla y León) where she lives for the birth.
Her Caesarian was carried out at the Recoletas Clinic, which provided the above picture.
Like Lina, the second-time mother is no stranger to late-life childbirth, having had her daughter via IVF treatment at age 58.
But she lost custody of the girl when she was two after social services found her care to be inadequate.
They claimed the child's problems included isolation, lack of proper personal hygiene, unsuitable clothing and, later, when she was old enough to go, repeated absence from school.
The child is currently living with a close family member.
Spanish legislation does not place any upper limit on women's ages when they decide to have children, and the jury is out among society as to whether a cap should be applied, or whether such a personal decision should be left to the potential mother in question.
The public health system does not offer fertility treatment to women over 40, meaning many of the one in five first-time mums in Spain over this age have to pay private clinics.
According to the Spanish Fertility Society, it would not normally recommend women over the age of 50 becoming pregnant.
Lina, as a doctor herself, was fully aware of the risks she faced at 52 and 62, but had difficulty convincing even private clinics to give her IVF.
In the end, she found one in Madrid which was willing to do so, and says she had 'never felt healthier or happier' than when she was pregnant.
