O/T Woman finally has a son -- at age 57
AGC Queen
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
For 16 years, Helen Abusbeih tried to have a son. She went to infertility
doctors and suffered through five miscarriages. Things looked bleak, but she
didn't lose faith.
The 57-year-old woman made history last week. She is the oldest known Michigan
woman to give birth, according to state records. Ismail, weighing 7 pounds, 12
ounces, was born Friday at Oakwood Hospital in Dearborn.
"If you don't have a son, the father has no one to carry on the family name,"
Abusbeih said Tuesday from her Oakwood Hospital room.
The oldest woman in the world to give birth, according to the 1998 Guinness
Book of Records, was 63 years old in 1996 when she had a daughter in
California.
Abusbeih of Dearborn already has other children -- a 40-year-old son from her
first marriage and three daughters, ages 20, 18 and 2 1/2 with her husband,
Mansour.
Abusbeih's baby was conceived through in vitro fertilization, using her
husband's sperm. Many infertility specialists turned the Abusbeihs away because
of her age, she said.
In the early 1990s, Abusbeih met Dr. Michael Fakih, a reproductive
endocrinologist in Rochester Hills. Fakih said he, too, was concerned about
Abusbeih's age at first. But Abusbeih easily passed a medical and psychological
checkup, so he decided to proceed.
The couple went through three in vitro procedures. The first resulted in the
birth of their daughter 2 1/2 years ago. The second ended in a miscarriage.
"After the second procedure failed, we talked to them about just dropping it,"
Fakih said. "But they kept calling, and we thought we'd give them one last
chance."
Dr. George Kazzi, who heads the department that specializes in high-risk
pregnancies at Oakwood, said the birth went smoothly.
And Abusbeih, with her baby in her arms, said going through the procedures and
miscarriages was difficult, but worth it.
"I always had hope that God is with us," she said. "I didn't give up."
MOTHERHOOD FIRSTS:
Most prolific living mother:
Leontina Albina, of San Antonio, Chile, had her 55th child in 1981. She and her
husband had five sets of triplets.
Most children born to one mother:
In the late 1700s in Russia, a woman gave birth to 69 children -- 16 pairs of
twins, seven sets of triplets and four sets of quadruplets. Was recorded by the
Monastery of Nikolskiy.
Shortest time between births:
A woman from Great Britain had two children from separate pregnancies five
months apart. One was born March 27, 1995 and the other October 23, 1995.
Heaviest single birth:
An Italian woman in 1955 gave birth to a baby that weighed 22 pounds, 8 ounces.
Oldest mother:
Arceli Keh of California gave birth to a daughter in 1996. She was 63 years
old.
Oldest mother in Michigan:
Helen Abusbeih of Dearborn is believed to have made history Friday when she
gave birth at age 57 to a son at Oakwood Hospital.
Source: 1998 Guinness Book of Records, Michigan Department of Community Health
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