Anish Vij
A British mum who welcomed her first child at 58 insists she isn’t selfish for having a baby later in life.
Carolyne Ness, originally from Fife, Scotland, was too old to qualify for IVF in the UK.
So in 2017 she paid £4,500 to adopt an embryo in India.
A determined Carolyne, who lives in New South Wales, Australia, made the long trip to New Delhi where she used the egg of a 21-year-old Indian woman and the sperm from an American donor.
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“I got the treatment done just before my 58th birthday so I was at the very upper limit,” she explained to The Sun.
“They transferred three embryos, something that tends to be avoided in Australia to prevent multiple births, which gave me that extra chance to get pregnant.
“I didn’t want to get my hopes up too much so I did some travelling, I went to the Golden Triangle, to Agra, to Jaipur and New Delhi.
“I just thought, well, I've tried my best and if it's meant to be, it will happen.
“I was meant to wait a certain amount of time to test but I had loads with me and I couldn’t help myself.
“They were all coming back positive and when I got back to Australia I was overjoyed when my blood tests confirmed my pregnancy.”
She gave birth to son Javed by c-section at 37 weeks in November 2017.
Now aged 64, Carolyne says having a baby later on in life has made her a better parent after welcoming Javed, now 5, to the world.
The qualified counsellor says that 'Javed is a wonderful gift' and that she is 'extremely lucky' to have him.
“Having a baby just shy of my 60th would never have been my first choice when I was younger,” she said.
“I never wanted to be a single mother, that was like my worst nightmare but it got to the stage where it was now or never and I knew I would regret it if I didn’t try.
“I would have missed out on something that’s brought me so much happiness.”
Carolyne admitted that she 'was more selfish' when she was younger and instead took the time to 'travel the world'.
“I had been married when I was younger but I struggled getting pregnant,” she added.
“In my 30s I discovered that I had fertility issues but by the time we got round to thinking about doing IVF our relationship had really broken down and we just didn’t want to bring a child into that.
“After I divorced my husband, Mr. Right never came along, I had a few relationships, but none that I felt were suitable really, to be a father.”
The mum-of-one says it's 'the best decision I've ever made' and that 'it's not too late in your 50s'.