'Ecstatic' Celine Dion pregnant with IVF twins at 42

Singer Celine Dion is reportedly pregnant with twins after her sixth attempt at in-vitro fertilisation.

The 42-year-old Canadian star's dream of expanding her family has come true, her spokesman has told U.S. media.

Dion, who is married to her manager Rene Angelil, 68, is already mother to nine-year-old Rene-Carles.

And after undergoing her sixth in-vitro fertilisation attempt and turning to acupuncture to improve her chances of conceiving, her spokesman Kim Jakwerth confirmed the happy news.

Dion is said to be 14 weeks pregnant and will find out the babies' genders next month.

'We're ecstatic,' her husband and manager Rene Angelil told the website.

'Celine is just hoping for a healthy pregnancy.

'She was hoping for one baby and the news that we are having two is a double blessing.'

It was reported Celine was pregnant last August, but her spokeperson confirmed in November 2009 that the pregnancy had failed.

The My Heart Will Go On singer has never made a secret of her desire to extend her family, and was always planning to fall pregnant following her run of shows in Las Vegas last year.

But Rene's battle with cancer cast doubt over whether the couple would have more children of their own.

She said: 'We'll give it a try after my tour. Hopefully we will be parents again. If not, that's fine. We have our miracle baby.'

Celine fell pregnant with Rene-Charles after having IVF treatment following six years of attempting to conceive.

When asked last December about her plans to fall pregnant for a second time, she confirmed she and her husband had 'a frozen embryo' waiting

Last year, Rene said: 'We are living the reality of the majority of couples who have to use [IVF]. The process can be long and arduous.

'But we are full of confidence. Céline is more determined than ever.'

In February, Celine told talk show host Oprah Winfrey that she and Rene had started on their fifth pregnancy attempt, and were determined not to give up.

She said: 'It’s life. You know? A lot of people go through this, but it’s not being told because it’s not in newspaper.

'But with us, as you know, it’s like, sometimes news are like mercury.'

Celine also said she didn't want to announce her miscarriage straight away, explaining: 'They said that I was pregnant, and a couple of days after, we were not pregnant again.

'We didn’t want to feel like we were playing yo-yo - "I’m pregnant. I’m not pregnant. I’m pregnant. I’m not pregnant." So we didn’t want to do this thing. But we did have a miscarriage.'

She added: 'I will be the happiest one to tell you when I’m pregnant. And if not, I’m the luckiest artist, especially wife and mother of a wonderful son. So I’m glad.'

Meanwhile, construction on the couple's Florida dream home - a £13million oceanfront Jupiter estate - is forging full steam ahead

Australian mother adds twins to her two sets of quadruplets

An Australian woman, who attracted media attention in 2005 after giving birth to a second set of quadruplets, has given birth again to a set of twins. According to the newspaper, The Australian, Mrs Chalk, 31, has had eleven children conceived using an anonymous sperm donor and artificial insemination, although there are conflicting reports that she may have undergone IVF (in vitro fertilisation). The treatment was given at a private clinic in Queensland.

Mrs Chalk was criticized by some for having the number of children her and her partner, Darren, chose to have. The Fertility Society of Australia took an interest in her case and the IVF Directors' Group issued criticism of the clinic in 2007 as being financially and clinically irresponsible, the Courier-Mail reports. But bioethicist Nicholas Tonti-Filippini at the John-Paul II Institute in Melbourne supported Mrs Chalk's reproductive decision-making. 'It's not up to the government or anybody else to tell people how many children they can have,' he said.

Although it is uncertain if Mrs Chalk did in fact undergo IVF, the case highlights the issue of multiple births which carry increased health risks to both mother and child. Clinics in the UK are advised by the regulatory body - the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority - that it is good practice to transfer only one embryo at a time and that multiple embryo transfer does not necessarily increase the chances of pregnancy, but does increase the risk of multiple births. Some commentators in Australia are concerned that financial pressures on fertility patients may persuade them to opt for multiple embryo transfer. 'What might be interesting is whether the Federal Government attempts to decrease Medicare funding to IVF. We certainly hope this does not drive patients to ask for more embryos to be put back in,' said Gino Pecoraro of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. 'People might be tempted to have more babies at once, thinking that might be cheaper. But the health implications are significant. That would be a major failing of the system and we don't want that to happen.'

The Chalks have told reporters that they do not have any more plans for further children. 'We'd love to have more children, but medically, that's it,' Darren Chalk said, adding: 'We'd have to buy a bigger bus!'