An Italian woman has become the country’s oldest mother at the age of 63, after giving birth to a healthy baby following fertility treatment in Ukraine.
After months of IVF treatment in Ukraine, even under the threat of bombs from Russian forces, little Sebastian was born on June 3 to his mother Flavia Álvaro.
Flavia, who will turn 64 in October, gave birth to Sebastian, who weighed almost two kilograms, at the Versilia hospital in Lido di Camaiore, in northwest Italy, by caesarean section ahead of schedule, bringing the pregnancy to its end. 31 weeks and four days.
The library employee’s fertility specialist, Andrea Marsili, told the Corrier della Sera that Flavia did not tell him about her trips to war-torn Ukraine, where there is no legal age limit for fertility treatments, until return.
“She organized them herself completely independently and I only found out about it after the fact,” he said of the new mother, whom he also described as a “stubborn woman.”
Flavia Álvaro (pictured, left) became Italy’s oldest mother at the age of 63.
Flavia, who will turn 64 in October, gave birth to Sebastian at the Versilia hospital in Lido di Camaiore, north-west Italy (pictured)
Sebastian is currently in the hospital’s premature ward and will be allowed to return home when he reaches a healthy enough weight.
But the journey of his birth was not easy at all.
When he arrived in kyiv last fall, Vladimir Putin’s forces were attacking the capital city.
In the chaos of the war, he ended up getting lost in kyiv. The Ukrainian fertility clinic was forced to call her hospital in Italy to ask where she was.
In addition to having to undergo fertility treatment in Ukraine at a time when war was ravaging the country, Flavia’s treatment alone cost 15,000 euros.
Flavia also tragically suffered a miscarriage the first time she tried the treatment.
India’s Erramatti Mangamma (pictured, right), who gave birth to a set of twins at the age of 73 in 2019, is the oldest woman in the world to give birth.
Mangamma and her husband Sitarama Rajarao (pictured, center) spoke to several local doctors before undergoing IVF treatment.
UK record holder Elizabeth Adeney (pictured) gave birth to her son in 2009 at the age of 66.
The businesswoman also traveled to Ukraine to undergo IVF treatment, as UK clinics refuse to treat women over 50.
But in the end it was all worth it to become Sebastián’s mother.
Flavia surpassed the previous record for the oldest woman to give birth in Italy.
That title was only held by Italian singer Gianna Nannini for 14 years, after she gave birth to her baby Penelope at the age of 56.
But Flavia is still not the age of the current record holder, India’s Erramatti Mangamma, who gave birth to a set of twins at the age of 73 in 2019.
Mangamma and her husband Sitarama Rajarao spoke to several local doctors before undergoing IVF treatment and giving birth to the twins in Hyderabad via Caesarean section.
However, she is a similar age to UK record holder Elizabeth Adeney, who gave birth to her son in 2009 at the age of 66.
The businesswoman also traveled to Ukraine to receive IVF treatment, as UK clinics refuse to treat women over 50 and the NHS does not recommend fertility treatments for women over 40.
