Hanoi woman gives birth at 51

The woman, who has two older sons, did not menstruate for four months and thought that she had went into menopause.

But when there were movements in her belly, she sought medical help and found out she was carrying a baby.

Dr Nguyen Thi Minh Phuong, head of the obstetrics at the Military Hospital 354, told VnExpress Friday that the woman was worried the baby would suffer disabilities and wanted to terminate the pregnancy.

But tests found the fetus’ condition was normal, and doctors encouraged her to keep the baby and get regular checks.

The woman delivered on the due date, and naturally, and both she and her 3.2-kilogram daughter are healthy, Phuong said.

“This is a very special case as it is very difficult for a woman to get pregnant naturally after 50.”

Few women at this age still have eggs and even IVF is rarely successful, she explained.

The oldest Vietnamese woman to ever deliver a baby was a 61-year-old in Hanoi who gave birth via C-section in 2018 after getting pregnant thanks to IVF using her husband’s sperms and a donor’s eggs.

In 2019 a 73-year-old in southern India became the world’s oldest woman to deliver when she gave birth to healthy twin girls after IVF.