In 2005, this story was discussed all over the world: a retired Romanian woman, Adriana Iliescu, became a mother for the first time at the age of 66 and entered the Guinness Book of Records.
Some people admired her, others were horrified and wondered what was in store for the woman’s daughter – after all, when the girl turns 18, her mother will be 85!
Where it all started
Adriana Iliescu was born on May 31, 1938 in Craiova. After graduating from university, the girl became a teacher of Romanian language and literature at school, then went to work at the university and mastered writing, creating several novels for children.
Adriana married at the age of 20 and almost immediately became pregnant. Iliescu never became a mother – she fell ill with tuberculosis, and doctors advised an abortion – according to doctors, the child could be born with serious abnormalities due to the use of many drugs.
All subsequent attempts to get pregnant failed – soon the woman was diagnosed with infertility. With her husband Adriana divorced, did not marry again. Retired, Iliescu felt very lonely – at this point in Romania and the opportunity to do IVF.
The long-awaited daughter
Adriana did not hesitate to undergo the procedure, but the first one was unsuccessful – the embryo was rejected. Nine months later, in 2004, Iliescu made a second attempt, and this time everything worked out.
At that time, the woman had long passed through menopause, and the biomaterial – zygotes with sperm and egg – were provided to Adriana by two anonymous donors.
Three fetuses took root at once, but in the 33rd week of pregnancy, when one weighed 1.45 kg and the other 0.69 kg, the smaller one stopped developing, and doctors decided to extract the remaining girl by Caesarean section.
So on January 16, 2005, Eliza was born, and a barrage of condemnation fell on Adriana. The woman became the oldest mother in the world, and she was scolded by hundreds of thousands of people, accusing her of selfishness and irresponsibility – after all, it is easy to calculate that in the year of Eliza’s majority her mother will be 85 years old, and it is possible that the young girl will be forced to devote herself to the care of an elderly parent.
And this is one of the best outcomes, because Adriana could have died before the girl grows up.
18 years later.
Iliescu herself realized that she was taking a risk. Although the woman said she felt “37,” she made a contract with the doctor who performed her IVF treatment: in the event of Adriana’s death, he was to become the child’s guardian.
Fortunately, these precautions proved unnecessary: Iliescu not only lived to see her daughter’s 18th birthday, but she still maintains a sober mind and leads an active lifestyle.
Eliza grew up an energetic and cheerful child, and Adriana surrounded her daughter with attention and love, devoting all her free time to her – the pensioner had enough of it. Now Eliza is studying at the University of Bucharest at two faculties at once – philosophy and literature.
Mother and daughter have an excellent relationship: Elisa says that her mother is her best friend, with whom she can discuss any topic.
Adriana advises the girl not to delay the birth of a child – maybe she is afraid of repeating history, maybe she dreams of seeing a grandson or granddaughter.
However, Adriana has no illusions about it. She has already bought a place in the cemetery and prepared clothes in which to bury her.
The old woman has also been saving the money she received for publishing her books so that Eliza will not need anything until she starts earning money.
No one will be able to repeat Adriana’s story in Romania – after the “Iliescu precedent” IVF procedure was banned in this country for women over 50.
However, the world record has long belonged to another woman – in 2006 it was taken away from Adriana by Indian Rajjo Devi Lohan, who gave birth at 70.
