Great Britain is trying to come to grips with the extremes of parenthood – first the 13-year father (Alfie) and now the 66-year mother Elizabeth Adeney.

Elizabeth shocked the country when she decided to have a child at the advanced age of 66 – when most women of her age are easing into retirement and coping with the empty nest syndrome. Apparently for the successful career woman, nesting has just started. She reportedly has already delivered her son on Tuesday this week by C-section. Her case highlights the controversies surrounding assisted production, medical tourism, and the laws governing these. Apparently, Elizabeth had in vitro fertilization outside the UK where the age limit is 50. Should her act of circumventing the law through medical tourism be considered illegal? Elizabeth reportedly received hate mails about her decision to have a child.

Elizabeth’s case brought out the question as to when is a mother too old to have a child?

For many people, the answer is clear – the biological clock decides. There are others, however, who believe in taking advantage of what science has to offer. After all, even in the Bible, there is the case of Sarah who delivered Isaac at the very ripe age of 80+.

Many people are also bringing up the gender question – when is a father too old to be a father? Think of Anthony Quinn, Larry King, and J. Howard Marshall. Is anybody complaining at all?

What do you think? When is it too old to have a child?

She is 70 years, cannot read nor write but she holds the record of being the oldest first time mother in the world. According to Randeep Ramesh of The Guardian, this biological wonder came about through the fusion of social taboo and science.

By social taboo, Ramesh was referring to childlessness, by science to in vitro fertilization (IVF).

In her community, Rajo Devi Lohan has been living a life of shame and anguish because she and her husband couldn’t bear children. When a neighbor who could read told them about the “miracle medicine” that enables event postmenopausal women to conceive, the couple entered the world of assisted reproduction technology. By selling all that they have (2 buffalos) and taking loans and mortgages, the family managed to raise 175,000 rupees (£2,500) for the IVF procedure which was conducted in a town just 30 miles away.

There were some age-associated barriers to overcome. Lohan couldn’t produce eggs anymore so an egg was purchased from a local donor. Her husband Baba’s sperms were unable to penetrate the eggs, so it has to be directly injected. The resulting embryo was implanted and resulted in a baby girl delivered in November 2008.

India is making headlines as a favorite destination in the medical tourism industry and assisted reproduction is one of the most common procedures involved. India’s success is due to the fact that there are no guidelines that regulate the maximum age of the mother or the maximum number of embryos to be implanted. As one IVF doctor was quoted as saying “moral questions about rights and wrongs do not delay us.” India’s culture focuses more on the social stigma of infertility and the mother’s right to produce children. Less consideration is given to the rights of the child.

Earlier this year, there was a controversy about a 60-year old woman who circumvented the IVF age limit in Canada by having the procedure done in India but delivered her twins in Canada.

For the oldest mother, the way ahead is clear. She plans to breastfeed her baby for at least three years and then give IVF another try. Hopefully, it will be a boy the next time around.

I am only slightly showing with my child, but I am already wearing maternity clothing. My teen asked me why this was the other day. Because I feel the need to make it obvious to the world that I am slightly larger than usual because I am pregnant, not because I am almost 40 and gaining weight. That is why. My teen said she agreed. Rather for people to know you are pregnant than think that you are gaining weight.

My husband asks me why I even care. I don’t know, but I do care. I also care about the stupid remarks I know will inevitably come during this pregnancy. Here are some of my “favorites”:

Are you having twins?- Seriously. Most pregnant women already feel extremely large. Even if they are large, they don’t need a stranger to validate that fact.

Your due date is in a few days, right? – No. No it isn’t.

Can I touch your stomach? – No. I am pregnant, but I am not public property.

You know that if your butt gets big like yours is getting, they say it’s a girl? – Really? WHAT are you doing looking at my butt like that.

Drum roll please…..

Are you related to that Michelle Duggar chick? – OK. I have 4 children from my first marriage. I have a son with my current hubby and I am pregnant again. Yes, our family is large. There is a big difference between 6 kids and 17(or is it 18?). And, please spare me the “clever” comments.

Do you have any comments to add to this list? What are some things that you think should NEVER be said to a pregnant woman?

We are in an era of middle-aged moms even though teen pregnancies are always in the limelight. This is the reason why the rate of Cesarean sections has been steadily increasing. The longer women delay in having children, the higher is the risk of having a Cesarean delivery due to impaired womb function. These findings were based on a large body of data collected in Scotland by scientists at Cambridge University.

The research team examined more than 500,000 record entries from 1980 to 2005 to evaluate the relationship between maternal age and labor outcome. Here are some of their results:

• There was a 7-fold increase in the proportion of women aged 35-39 entering their first pregnancy
• There was a 10-fold increase for women aged 40 or older also having their first pregnancy.
• The rate of Cesarean sections has also more than doubled in the same period of time.

This trend seems to be the same in many developed countries as well.

The researchers went on further and looked into the women’s womb. Samples of myometrium which is the muscle from the middle of the uterine wall were taken from 62 women who had elective C-sections.

Their analysis showed that older women tend to have impaired uterine function which results in reduced ability of the uterus to spontaneously contract as well in changes in the type of contraction. This impairment in contraction leads to problems during delivery which eventually ends in a C-section.

C-deliveries can present a lot of risks for the mother and for the child and can lead to a lot of complications, including preterm delivery and low birth weights.