Romanian woman gives birth at 67


A 67-year-old Romanian woman gave birth today to a baby girl in Bucharest, to become the world's oldest recorded mother.

Doctors at the Giulesti Maternity Hospital in Bucharest said Adriana Iliescu, who was artificially inseminated, is the world's oldest recorded mother.

Iliescu's daughter - who has not yet been named - was delivered by cesarean section early today, more than six weeks short of a full 40-week pregnancy term, said a hospital spokeswoman.

She weighed just 1.45 kilograms (3.19lbs), less than half the weight of an average newborn, and was in the intensive care unit but breathing on her own, the spokeswoman said.

"The mother is doing well - she is saying she has been given a new lease of life," the spokeswoman said, reading from a statement.

Doctors performed the emergency cesarean section after the smaller of Iliescu's twins died in the womb, a hospital spokeswoman said. That child weighed just 700 grams (1.54 pounds), the spokeswoman said.

Iliescu underwent fertility treatment for nine years, including procedures to reverse the effects of menopause, before being artificially inseminated, the head doctor at the hospital, Bogdan Marinescu, was quoted as saying by the private Mediafax news agency.
