Sixty-year-old mother of twins feels 'fantastic'

The 60-year-old American woman who last week gave birth to twins, returned home with the babies today, saying she feels “fantastic”.

Frieda Birnbaum, who conceived with the help of an in-vitro fertilisation clinic in South Africa, had the boys, Josh and Jaret, at Hackensack University Medical Centre. The US hospital said she was the oldest American woman to give birth to twins.

“I’m very excited,” Birnbaum said as she arrived at family’s home in Saddle River, New Jersey today with the twins and her husband, Ken Birnbaum, a lawyer.

Birnbaum, a psychologist, said she would have about a month off work to care for the boys with the help of two live-in nannies.

She said she had received messages of support from women all over the world and predicted that they would continue to give birth at older and older ages.

“I didn’t know I was this old, that I was doing anything that unique,” she said.

Birnbaum, who has three other children including a six-year-old, has been criticised by her 29-year-old daughter for giving birth so late in life.

The daughter said she worried about whether her mother would be able to care for the twins when they are in their teens, but Birnbaum said she was teaching her children a valuable life lesson.

“When you make yourself happy, you can teach your children to be happy,” she said.