Older moms have been flooding the news the last few days. \u00a0There is the 61-year-old mom who carried her own grandson for her infertile daughter. \u00a0She is not the first to do this and it’s an incredible gift most are applauding her for. \u00a0There is a much more controversial older mom making headlines today. \u00a0Annegret Raunigk an elementary school teacher in Germany and mother of 13 is pregnant.<\/p>\n

You may be amazed she is pregnant for her 14th child or given the Duggars you may find it not too newsworthy. \u00a0If I told you she was 65, you may find it newsworthy, but if I add that she is not just pregnant for baby number 13 but for quadruplets…I think it is fair to say you would be shocked.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the biggest shocker would be that this elementary school teacher is 65 years old. \u00a0She is also not carrying the babies for an infertile child but to give a sibling to her 13th child that she gave birth to 9\u00a0years ago at the age of 55. Her naturally achieved pregnancy<\/a> at the age of 55 was considered something close to a miracle. At the age of 65 though Annegret turned to fertility specialists.<\/p>\n

Annegret’s other children range in age from 22 to 44 and she balks at being told she is too old to have more children. \u00a0She finds cliches about being too old exhausting. \u00a0I am sure having quadruplets at 65 or any age for that matter is the true meaning of exhausting. \u00a0However\u00a0Dr. Holger Stepan, head of obstetrics at the University Hospital of Leipzig, called the pregnancy “an absolute disaster.” He told Berliner Morgenpost that it wasn’t just Raunigk who’s at risk \u2014 so are her four fetuses.<\/p>\n

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Annegret expecting quadruplets at age 65. Photo credit RTL\/Pfeiffer<\/p><\/div>\n

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Picture after the birth of her daughter naturally conceived at age 55. Photo credit ABC News.<\/p><\/div>\n

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As with any controversial topic, the public is also voicing their opinions. \u00a0Some are calling Annegret selfish and irresponsible. \u00a0Others are saying that the medical professionals that allowed this are at fault. \u00a0While others are voicing their opinion that\u00a0it’s no one else’s business and more power to her.<\/p>\n

I remember when I was expecting my son Ethan there was a woman\u00a0Frieda Birnbaum, 60,\u00a0from my home town in Bergen County, NJ that was expecting twins. \u00a0The twins<\/a> were born and mother and babies did well but it was not without controversy.<\/p>\n

Frieda also wished to give her young son a sibling as well as go against the stigma attached to older women giving birth. \u00a0Birnbaum and her attorney husband were married for 38 years and had two children at the time ages 33 and 6. \u00a0Mrs. Birnbaum went to South Africa for the fertility treatments that made her the oldest American woman to give birth to twins.<\/p>\n

If all goes well Annegret will be the oldest mother to give birth to quadruplets. \u00a0So far the pregnancy has been free of major complications and she is due in the summer. \u00a0Annegret underwent several unsuccessful IVF attempts before becoming pregnant with the quads and was said to be shocked to learn she was carrying four babies. \u00a0She has not considered selective reduction in order to reduce the risks to her and the babies.<\/p>\n

So what do you think? \u00a0Should people just mind their own business? \u00a0Are the doctors irresponsible? \u00a0How old is too old? \u00a0Should women’s rights mean that a woman can choose to have a baby at any age? \u00a0Let me hear what you think. If you like reading about pregnancy, you can see more<\/a> at borncute.<\/p>\n

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