In this screengrab taken from video on Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2016, Lina Alvarez leaves Lucas Augusti Hospital with her newborn baby in Madrid, Spain. The 62-year-old Spanish woman encourages women in their later years to imitate her if they want to. (Atlas TV via AP)
A 62-year-old woman from Galicia, Spain, has given birth to her third child.
Lina Alvarez, a doctor by profession, gave birth to a daughter via Cesarean section in Lucas Augusti Hospital last Oct. 10, two weeks short of her due date. The baby, who weighed 5.2 lbs (2.3 kilos), shares the same name as Alvarez.
“I feel phenomenal. I couldn’t be better. I’m very very grateful to live for such a precious little thing,” she told local news sites, according to Mirror.co.uk.
Her pregnancy ignited debate and scrutiny among the Spanish citizenry when she announced her pregnancy. Several groups called out the government to set an age limit for women who wish to undergo fertility procedures.
Because of her age and “delicate” health, many clinics and hospitals turned down her request, and Alvarez had to undergo in-vitro fertilization (IVF) in the country’s capital of Madrid.
“I always wanted to be a mother again but most medical experts said ‘no,’” she said. “Then some years ago I met a gynecologist who agreed to help me if the tests were okay. They were positive and so he helped me to implant an embryo.”
Alvarez had her second child, a 10-year-old son named Samuel, after she underwent IVF treatment at the age of 52. Lina’s eldest son Exiquio, 28, suffered from cerebral palsy after a medical error.
The world’s oldest documented mother is 70-year-old Daljinder Kaur of India, who successfully gave birth in 2015 after a two-year IVR treatment. In the same year, a 65-year-old German teacher welcomed her quadruplets. Gianna Francesca Catolico/rga