I’m 64 and doing the school run for my 5-year-old son – becoming a mother at 58 is the best decision I’ve ever made

• Carolyne Ness, originally from Fife but living in Australia, is mother to Javed
• She adopted an embryo in India and gave birth to her son in November 2017 

A mother who had her first child at the age of 58 has revealed what it’s like to be doing the school run at 64 years old.

Carolyne Ness, from Fife in Scotland but now living in New South Wales, Australia, said she is glad she waited until later in life to become a mother, after travelling to India to adopt an embryo when she was declared too old to undergo IVF in Britain.

She paid £4,500 for the embryo following years of fertility issues which she was once told would make it difficult for her to conceive, and in 2017 she welcomed her son Javed into the world.

The mother-of-one who is a qualified counsellor has now revealed that becoming a mother as she approached the age of 60 was not something she had ever planned and she hadn’t wanted to be a single mother.

However, she didn’t want to miss out on raising a child and knew that if she didn’t take action when she did, then she would have missed out on ‘something that’s brought [her] so much happiness.’

A mother who gave birth to her first child at the age of 58 as revealed she has no regrets and has joked about being the oldest parent on the school run. Carolyne Ness, now 64, is raising her son Javed, five, as a mother in her older years after struggling with fertility for much of her adult life. In November 2017 she gave birth to her son after travelling to India and adopting an embryo 

She told The Sun: ‘Having Javed is a wonderful gift and I’m extremely lucky.’

As she spoke about doing the school run and being the oldest mother in the playground, she revealed Javed doesn’t seem to notice the age difference.

However, he has been pestering Carolyne to get him a father.

“Some of Javed’s friends have grandmothers who are around the same age as me but I just make myself known as his mum. I have nothing to be ashamed of after all,’ she said.

Carolyne (pictured) is originally from Fife but emigrated to Australia. She decided to explore embryo adoption after she realised she didn’t qualify for IVF in the UK or in Australia

Carolyne, a qualified counsellor, revealed it had never been part of her life plan to become a mother at 58 but said if she had not gone down the route of embryo adoption she would have missed out on something that brings her ‘so much happiness’

The mother also spoke about how she never found Mr Right following her divorce in her 30s, and revealed she didn’t want to consider IVF with her ex-husband because they were already having relationship troubles and she ‘didn’t want to bring a child into that’. 

WHAT IS ‘EMBRYO ADOPTION’?

Donated embryos and sperm are used in embryo adoption.

The procedure involves the fertilised embryos being implanted into the womb. 

Medication will be given to thicken the uterus lining to make sure it is in optimum condition to receive embryos.

The embryos will be inserted into the cervix. 

Women will found out they are pregnant within two weeks of implantation by at home pregnancy test or doctor’s blood test. 

Carolyne has previously revealed how she suffered fertility issues for around 30 years before having Javed.

Appearing on This Morning in 2018 when he was an infant, she told the presenters: ‘My life is just complete now that I have got my baby and I am so happy that I made the choice to go ahead.’

She revealed how she was forced to seek treatment in India due to the IVF rules in the UK and Australia.

Under NHS guidelines, women under 40 are eligible for three IVF cycles, and woman aged between 40 and 42 are eligible for one cycle.

And in Australia, women are not able to undergo IVF past the average age of natural menopause, according to the guidelines that IVF units have to abide by to maintain their accreditation. This is usually interpreted as 52 years of age. 

Finding herself single at 40 after divorce and still longing for a baby, Carolyne discovered embryo adoption, for which donated embryos and sperm are used.

At the time, she told Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford: ‘And even though I am an older mother I am coping very well and he is very loved and very much wanted.’

Asked how her son would be taken care of if anything were to happen to her, Carolyne said she didn’t expect to be going anywhere any time soon.

She added: ‘My sister is willing to take him, she is five years younger and my best friend who was my birthing partner, she is ten years younger.

‘She is very willing to take him if anything should happen.

‘My family is long lived he was in his nineties, my mother passed when she was in her mid-eighties just before Javed was born.’

For her embryo adoption Carolyne was given the profiles of ten embryos, choosing a 21-year-old Indian woman, and six sperm donors, selecting an American-Caucasian donor.

She said: ‘I chose the ones that felt right for me.’

Three fertilised embryos were then implanted in Carolyne’s womb after tests confirmed it was healthy enough.

Javed was born at 37 weeks by a planned cesarean and Carolyne said she doesn’t plan to have any more children.

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