Ghanaian woman gives birth to first child after 40 years of trying

A 59-year-old woman who had tried for nearly four decades to become pregnant has given birth at a New York hospital after fertility treatments.

Akosua Budu Amoako gave birth to a full-term 7lb 4oz boy on June 15 at Bellevue Woman's Center in Niskayuna, near Albany. Budu says she and her husband started trying to have children after they married 38 years ago, but eventually stopped trying after she discovered she had a blocked fallopian tube that made natural pregnancy almost impossible.

Then last year, after learning that a 60-year-old woman in the couple's homeland of Ghana gave birth to triplets after fertility treatments, Budu underwent in vitro fertilization at an Albany-area clinic using her husband's sperm and a donor egg.

The baby was named after his father, Isaiah Somuah Anim. He is doing fine, as is his mother. Finally! Isaiah Somuah Anim, 59, and his wife Akosua Budu Amoako, 59, hold their son Isaiah Somuah Anim Jr in upstate New York.

'We haven't gotten much sleep, but I feel fine and I think he already knows our voices,' she told the Times Union. 'When he's crying sometimes, my husband will call from work and Isaiah will hear his voice through the phone and calms down and stops crying.' Last year, CDC figures recorded just 754 babies born to over-50s.

It is a growing phenomenon as women delay pregnancy to focus on their careers, and fertility treatments become more advanced and more accessible. Indeed, their doctor, Dr Kushru Irani of Niskayuna's Bellevue Women's Center, said he tried to dissuade them from trying IVF at first. 'I said everything that I could to discourage them by discussing the many risks,' he told the Union.

'Budu was pre-diabetic and suffered from some hypertension. I was concerned about the strain pregnancy and delivery would put on her heart. 'But they were very calm, determined and had clearly thought about this a long time. 'Once a patient makes a medical decision, it is my duty as a doctor to do my best to care for them and keep them in good health. You compartmentalize your worries so you can keep the patient's spirits up.'