" We didn't want children..." told Michelle. But now...
Jim Bob & Michelle Duggar married July 21st, 1984. At that time, they chose to use the birth control pill. They thought, “We don’t want children right now. We can’t afford them. We want children in our timing, when we’re ready.” Four years later they decided to have their first child. Then, Michelle went back on the pill, but she conceived and had a miscarriage. At that point they talked with a Christian medical doctor and read the fine print in the contraceptives package. They found that while taking the pill you can get pregnant and then miscarry. They were grieved! They were Christians! They were pro-life! They realized that their selfish actions had taken the life of their child. They prayed and asked God to forgive them, and to teach them to love children like He loves children. They asked God to bless them with as many children as He saw fit in His timing. Right after that Michelle got pregnant with twins! To date they have been blessed with 17 children, (10 boys and 7 girls) Joshua (& wife Anna), Jana & John-David (twins), Jill, Jessa, Jinger, Joseph, Josiah, Joy-Anna, Jedidiah & Jeremiah (twins), Jason, James, Justin, Jackson, Johannah, Jennifer (and #18 due in January 2009!).
This information is from: www.duggarfamily.com
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What is the minimum age to have a baby?
Lina Medina (born September 27, 1933, in Paurange, Peru) is the youngest confirmed mother in medical history, giving birth at the age of 5 years, 7 months and 21 days.
Born in Peru, Lina was brought to a hospital by her parents at the age of 5 years because of increasing abdominal size. She was originally thought to have had a tumor, but her doctors determined she was in her seventh month of pregnancy. Dr. Gerardo Lozada took her to Lima, Peru, prior to the surgery to have other specialists confirm that Lina was in fact pregnant. A month and a half later, on May 14, 1939, she gave birth to a boy by a caesarean section necessitated by her small pelvis. The surgery was performed by Dr. Lozada and Dr. Busalleu, with Dr. Colareta providing anaesthesia. Her case was reported in detail by Dr. Edmundo Escomel to La Presse Medicale, along with the additional details that her menarche had occurred at 8 months of age (or 2 1/2 according to a different article), and that she had had prominent breast development by the age of 4. By age 5 her figure displayed pelvic widening and advanced bone maturation.
Her son weighed 2.7 kg (6.0 lb; 0.43 st) at birth and was named Gerardo after her doctor. Gerardo was raised believing that Lina was his sister, but found out at the age of ten that she was his mother. He grew up healthy but died in 1979 at the age of 40 of a disease of the bone marrow.
Lina Medina never revealed the father of the child, nor the circumstances of her impregnation. Dr. Escomel suggested she might not actually know herself by writing that Lina "couldn't give precise responses". Lina's father was arrested on suspicion of rape and incest, but was later released due to lack of evidence. Medina later married Raúl Jurado, who fathered her second son in 1972. They live in a poor district of Lima known as "Chicago Chico" ("Little Chicago"). She refused an interview with Reuters in 2002.
In young adulthood she worked as a secretary in the Lima clinic of Dr. Gerardo Lozada, the doctor who performed her caesarean section. Lozada gave her an education, and helped put her son through high school.
There are two published photographs documenting the case. The first was taken around the beginning of April 1939, when Medina was seven and a half months into pregnancy. Taken from Medina's left side, it shows her standing naked in front of a neutral backdrop. This is the only published photograph of Lina taken during her pregnancy. This photograph is of significant value because it proves Medina's pregnancy as well as the extent of her physiological development. However, this photograph is not widely known outside medical circles. The other photograph is of far greater clarity and was taken a year later in Lima when Gerardo was eleven months old.
All pictures and information on this article are from: youngest_mother.tripod.com
What is the maximum age to have a baby...or even two?
She was utterly determined to have a son.
The fact that to do so would make 70-year-old Omkari Panwar the world's oldest mother didn't even cross her mind.
Her resolve was matched by her husband Charan Singh Panwar, 77.
To pay for the IVF treatment vital to producing a male heir to the family's smallholdings, the retired farmer sold his buffalos, mortgaged his land, spent his life savings and took out a credit card loan.
And it all paid off when Mrs Panwar gave birth to twins - a boy and girl - by emergency Caesarean section in hospital in Muzaffarnagar, seven hours drive north of the Indian capital New Delhi.
The twins, born a month premature and weighing 2lb each, are healthy, according to doctors.
The Panwars already have two adult daughters, and five grandchildren, but the latest arrivals are what they have been waiting for - not least because a son will benefit from a dowry when he marries and will be able to work their land.
Mrs Panwar said: 'For eight months the pregnancy was hectic and painful. But I have given birth before, so I knew what to expect. Sometimes, you have to face the pain if you want something good.' Her husband added: 'At last we have a son and heir. We prayed to God, went to saints and visited religious places to pray for an heir.
'The treatment cost me a fortune but the birth of a son makes it all worthwhile. I can die a happy man and a proud father.'
Mrs Panwar, who has no birth certificate, uses the date of India's independence in 1947 to gauge her age. She remembers being nine when the British left India - meaning she is now 70.
Romanian Adriana Iliescu, who gave birth to a daughter through IVF aged 66 in 2005, was previously the world's oldest mother.
Mrs Panwar was told she had beaten the record as she recuperated on a rusty steel bed in the mudbrick home of one of her daughters. 'I didn't know that,' she said. 'But it is of little benefit to me. I have not even seen my own children yet - they were taken to a specialist hospital while I was still unconscious.
'If I am the world's oldest mother it means nothing to me. I just want to see my new babies and care for them while I am still able.'
The pictures and information are from: www.dailymail.co (Mail Online)
59 - is not only retired age but time to have a child!
A British woman who gave birth at the age of 59 is believed to be the world's oldest natural mother, it emerged yesterday.
Dawn Brooke gave birth without the aid of fertility treatment breaking the previous world record for a natural pregnancy by two years.
Mrs Brooke and her husband Raymond avoided publicity at the time of their son's birth 10 years ago and details have only now emerged after some of the family spoke out.
The record for non-IVF birth was thought to be held by an American woman, who had a daughter in Los Angeles in 1956 when she was aged 57.
Mr Brooke, 74, said the pregnancy had been unplanned and had come as a shock to him and his wife.
"People are generally not quite aware of the extreme good luck we had at our age," he told a Sunday newspaper. "We're overjoyed to have our son. We've been hugely fortunate. He's such a fantastic boy."
Mr Brooke said his family decided to shun publicity over the birth as their son grew up at their home on Guernsey. "We've kept it quiet," he said.
The unnamed boy will celebrate his tenth birthday today, while his mother is now 69. He was born by caesarean delivery at the island's Princess Elizabeth Hospital on Aug 20, 1997 three months after the couple had married.
Nick Otway, 33, Mrs Brooke's son from a previous marriage, said: "When they told us we all gave Ray a round of applause. He and mum are both extremely healthy and active and having a youngster to bring up is now a large part of that.
"It's brought them both a tremendous amount of happiness. There are women who get to 40 or 45 and think, 'I'm far too old to have a baby.' This should give them some reassurance to know they're not."
"My mum and my stepdad make a fantastic couple. And Ray has so much fun with the lad. They're extremely close."
"They're both heavily into Harry Potter. The boy is extremely creative and mathematical as well. He's a jack of all trades really.
"Ray's been reading to him for years. Now the lad's got a phenomenal IQ. I think he'll do extremely well in later life."
Mr Otway told the News of the World: "All of the family have got young genes. I'm 33 and some people say I look about 24, 25 - and I'm quite happy with that. My sister's 39 and only looks about 27.
"It's in the genes, that's what we put it down to. My mum and my stepdad don't seem their age in any way."
Yesterday, Mrs Brooke was said to be visiting relatives in Canada and was unavailable for comment.
The Guinness World Records book lists the world's oldest mother as Adriana Iliescu who gave birth to a daughter in 2005 aged 66 years and 230 days.
The birth to the Romanian academic who had received fertility treatment for nine years beforehand sparked an ethical, medical and religious debate about the suitability of fertility treatment for older women.
Britain's oldest mother is Patricia Rashbrook, of Lewes, East Sussex, who had a son last year at the age of 62. She received fertility treatment in Russia.
This information is from : www.telegraph.co.uk/news
