Aleta St. James, who will turn 57 on Friday, is is expected to give birth to twins today at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital. The twins, a boy and a girl who will be named Francesca and Gian, are to be dlievered by Caesarian section. St. James is expected to have a press conference tomorrow to discuss this event. In an interview Monday, she predicted that in another ten years, “what I’m doing will be normal!”
St. James became pregnant by in-vitro fertilization and was treated at North Hudson IVF, a fertility clinic where she had been a patient for three years prior to discussing this procedure. Jane Miller, who is the director of the clinic, warns that this should not be a signal to other women in this age group that it is advisable to have babies. St. James, who is an emotional healer and life coach, was in excellent health prior to becoming pregnant and is an exception.
Older women who become pregnant face far greater risk of miscarriage, stillbirth and chromosome abnormalities, which can result in Down syndrome. Pregnancy severely taxes a woman’s body, causing strain on the heart, lungs, and other vital organs. However, the risks diminish if a younger woman donated the eggs used in in-vitro fertilization. In that case, the risks to the fetus reflect those of the donor’s age group, not the mother’s.
St. James will not be the oldest woman in the United States to have given birth to twins. Judy Cates, of California, gave birth to twin girls December 9, 1998 at 57. Currently the record for the world’s oldest mother is held by Satyabhama Mahapatra of India, who was 65 when her first child was born in April 2003. The oldest mother of twins is Janet Bosher of Great Britain, who had her twins at 58 in September 2002.
All this is indicative of a trend for older women to have their first babies later in life. The average age for first time mothers has gone from 21 in 1970 to 25 in 2002. But the most startling statistics show an increase in the number of first-time mothers from 35-39, which increased 36% between 1991 and 2001. For woman 40-44, that number nearly doubled to 70%.
Ms. St. James is the sister of Curtis Slew, founder of New York’s Guardian Angel, who himself became a first-time father at the age of 50. As a healer, she has developed a program called Energy Transformations that purports to help people release the negative energy blocks that are holding them back. She has a private practice and also conducts seminars and lectures worldwide. She serves on a number of advisory boards including that of the Cardiovascular Wellness and Longevity Centers in New York.
