50-year-old grandmother unexpectedly discovers natural pregnancy

The baby boy was given to his father by Dr. Dao.

On the afternoon of July 19, Dr. Nguyen Trung Dao, Department of Obstetrics, Hanoi Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, said that he had just performed a cesarean section and successfully delivered a 3.6kg baby boy to a couple in their 50s.

This special mother is from Son La. She and her husband have 2 daughters and have been grandparents for nearly 2 years now.

A few months ago, when she went for a routine health check-up, she was surprised when the doctor told her she was 18 weeks pregnant. Before that, when she noticed that her period was not coming as usual, she thought she was in menopause so she did not pay attention. Hearing that she got pregnant naturally at the age of 50 without knowing, many people around her were very surprised.

To maintain the pregnancy, this couple in their 50s had to go through many physical and mental difficulties, especially in the last weeks of pregnancy… but they persevered and overcame them. After the cesarean section on July 19, the health of both mother and child was stable.

Dr. Nguyen Trung Dao said he has examined and successfully delivered babies for 47-48 year old women who got pregnant naturally, but it is very rare for women over 50. "It is very rare for women to get pregnant naturally after the age of 50. Because at this time, the ovaries have decreased a lot, there are almost no eggs left to get pregnant," Dr. Dao shared.

According to him, age and poor egg quality put the fetus at high risk of malformations, and a difficult pregnancy can easily lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, premature birth, low birth weight, and slow fetal growth...

In the Obstetrics Department, many cases of unwanted pregnancies when the mother is 50 years old, are forced to decide to terminate the pregnancy due to fetal abnormalities; due to the mother's health. In addition, many people cannot overcome their fear of getting pregnant when they are already grandmothers.

Doctors say that when women reach menopause, they cannot get pregnant. However, in the 3-5 years before this period, they often go through premenopause with many physical, hormonal, and psychological disorders.

Women's reproductive organs have changes such as shrinking and sagging breasts, atrophy, dryness of the vulva, vagina or signs of hot flashes, sweating... In particular, women at this stage have changes in the menstrual cycle and nature. The cycle is disturbed, the menstrual cycle changes, gradually becomes less, longer and less frequent, there may be menorrhagia or hypermenorrhea...

During this period, women can absolutely get pregnant, so women should absolutely not be subjective with this "dark" period, still need to take appropriate contraceptive measures. In case of signs of missed or late menstruation, should take a pregnancy test and see an obstetrician-gynecologist.

Three months ago, Hanoi Hospital 354 also successfully delivered a 51-year-old woman from Bac Kan, who already had a grandchild. This pregnant woman felt something unusual in her belly, a feeling of “movement”, and went for a check-up and discovered that the fetus was already in the 22nd week.

In Vietnam, in 2017, the Hanoi Andrology and Infertility Hospital announced that for the first time in Vietnam, a woman gave birth at the age of 60. In 2021, Thanh Hoa Provincial Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital helped a 61-year-old woman in Tho Xuan District (Thanh Hoa) become a mother, her husband was 68 years old that year. Recently, Hai Phong Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital also successfully welcomed a 3.1 kg baby girl, the child of a couple, the wife is 60 years old, the husband is 63 years old. All 3 cases had children through in vitro fertilization.

According to Vietnamnet