60-year-old Israeli gives birth to healthy baby after emergency C-section

The woman, the oldest ever to give birth at Kaplan Medical Center, suffered from a serious case of preeclampsia that put the baby girl and even the mother at risk.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Updated: AUGUST 3, 2016 01:54
Operating room staff at cesarean section. (photo credit: KAPLAN MEDICAL CENTER)
Operating room staff at cesarean section.
(photo credit: KAPLAN MEDICAL CENTER)
Doctors at Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot saved the first baby of a 60-year-old woman who gave birth there. The woman, the oldest ever to give birth at Kaplan – but not the oldest Israeli to deliver a baby – suffered from a serious case of preeclampsia that put the baby girl and even the mother at risk.
In preeclampsia, the mother suffers from hypertension, sometimes with fluid retention and a large amount of protein in the urine. This condition usually occurs during the last trimester of pregnancy and can lead to the breakdown of red blood cells, impaired liver function and even seizures.
Dr. Yael Ne’eman, a gynecologist in the delivery room, said last Thursday that a cesarean section had to be carried out immediately to stabilize the mother and save the baby.
The oldest Israeli to give birth was a 65-year-old who delivered last year at Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba.
The Kaplan team included two gynecologists, two pediatricians, a midwife and three nurses. The baby girl was born healthy at 2.2 kilos.
Mother and child are still in the hospital, but their conditions are very good, Kaplan staffers said on Tuesday.
The mother had a uterus tumor that had previously been removed.
No details were available on how she conceived, as in-vitro fertilization is not performed in Israel on women of her age.