A 50-year-old woman in Australia as conceived without IVF and now given birth to a healthy first child. In doing so, she has broken records, as she is now the oldest Australian woman to fall pregnant naturally.
Anthea Nicholas, a semi-retired real estate agent, had a “one-in-several-million” chance of falling pregnant without IVF, with her chances of miscarriage up to 70%.
New mum Anthea told Australian Women’s Weekly mag that she believed her early pregnancy symptoms, including nausea, were actually the effects of an early menopause. It was her husband, Peter Byrne, who suggested that she could in fact be pregnant.
“I knew the odds for is would be horrendous. I had a massive fear, there’s no other word for it,” she told the mag, also saying that she was scared that people would accuse her of being too old to have a new baby.
Gynaecologist Dr Andrew Cary described the birth as a miracle, especially as Anthea suffered from a condition that would make her pregnancy and labour difficult, regardless of age.
The proud parents have named their now 5-week-old son Nicholas Jay, who was born perfectly healthy.
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