64 yr old mother

A German woman aged 64 has given birth to a healthy baby girl, a national record and her first child after years of unfruitful attempts and false pregnancies. "Mother and child are doing well," doctor Elias Karam at the Aschaffenburg clinic in southern Bavaria was quoted as saying by Der Spiegel weekly.

The baby was born last Thursday by caesarian and weighed 2kg (4.4lbs) the report said. While the woman became the oldest German to given birth, it was far from a world record. At the end of 2006, a Spanish woman of 67 gave birth to twins, pipping the record made the year before by another twin-bearer, this time a 66-year-old Romanian.

The German birth came thanks to the donation of ovules by a 25-year-old donor but used the sperm of her husband, who is also aged 64, Spiegel reported. The ovule operation happened abroad because it was banned in Germany, the report said.

"This woman came to me because she needed my help. As a doctor, I gave it without question," said Dr Karam.