No regrets for IVF mum as she celebrates 70

TIGHTLY holding the hand of little Eliza, this woman could easily be mistaken for her grandmother.

But you’d be wrong. Three years ago, at the age of 66 and 230 days, Adriana Iliescu gave birth for the first time after being given IVF treatment from a doctor friend and receiving a sperm donor.

She became the world’s oldest mother in 2005, and was this week spotted out shopping with her three-year-old daughter in Romania.

The pair live in a high rise flat in Bucharest, surviving on Ms Iliescu’s €316 a month pension and her income from her part-time work as an academic at the city’s university, although she is officially retired.

Now aged 70, she kept the somewhat infamous Guinness Book of Records title of world’s oldest mother to give birth until Spanish woman Carmela Bousada had twins on December 29, 2006, at the age of 66 years and 358 days.

As Ms Iliescu walks the streets with Eliza groups of teenagers shout “granny” at her.

But she seems not to notice and insists everyone she speaks to is supportive of her decision.

“I have never suffered any prejudice. Nothing unpleasant has happened, at least never to my face.

“In Romania, people who have children are very admired,” she said.

Ms Iliescu, who celebrated her birthday last weekend, said: “I’m fit and healthy and I’ve never had any illnesses.

“I don’t smoke and I don’t drink. If I live as long as my parents did, Eliza will be 20 by the time I pass away. I think I still have a lot to give her.”

When she is not at work, Ms Iliescu has a few hours relaxation, sitting down with a book, while her daughter is cared for by nursery staff.

“Right now it’s hard to have time even to wash my hair,” she admitted.

For the first two years of her life, Eliza would regularly wake in the night.

She has a chest complaint which would leave her coughing for hours.

“I had to keep her in my arms because she always wanted to be close to me,” said her mother.