A woman of 66 is set to become Britain's oldest mother, sparking a debate over late pregnancies. Elizabeth Adeney, who is four years older than the current record holder, is around eight months pregnant with what is thought to be her first child.
Adney, who is divorced, travelled abroad to undergo IVF treatment because most British fertility clinics will not offer their services to women over the age of 50.
Adeney, a wealthy businesswoman, is said to have been "desperate" for a baby, and was "over the moon" when she discovered she was pregnant.
She is still working a five-day week as the managing director of a plastics and textiles firm, and is in perfect health, friends have said.
Her pregnancy, however, is likely to reopen the debate over whether late motherhood is in the best interests of a child.
Adeney will be nearly 80 by the time her child reaches its teens.
A friend of the mother-to-be was reported to have said: "She was desperate for a child.
"She was over the moon when she learned last year that she was pregnant and has been quite open about it – it's not the sort of thing she can hide.
"Elizabeth has had a pretty good pregnancy. She has been very well, considering her age – I'm amazed how she keeps going.
"She does get up a little later in the mornings than she used to and sometimes spends an hour or two at home before going to work but she is still at her business Monday to Friday."
Adeney travelled to Ukraine last year, where a controversial IVF clinic has helped many women get pregnant using donor eggs and sperm.
She was unavailable for comment yesterday, but a family friend who answered the door at her home in the village of Lidgate, Suffolk, was aware of the publicity around her pregnancy.
"She doesn't want to say anything at the moment," said the friend.
Neighbours apparently had no idea of Adeney's pregnancy. "It's come as a shock," said one, who didn't want to be named. "I thought she was too old to have children.
"It hasn't quite sunk in yet. I don't know what to think. I don't know her that well," they added.
She is believed already to have hired a live-in nanny and has already converted a room at her £600,000 detached home into a nursery. Adeney, who is expected to give birth by elective Caesarean,
is one of a growing number of older women who have come under the spotlight for seeking IVF treatment.
Medical concerns have focused on the risks to the older mother of suffering pre-eclampsia, which can lead to blood clots and serious complications, or even death.
Britain's current oldest mother, the psychiatrist, Dr Patricia Rashbrook, was 62 when she had a son in 2006 using a donated egg from Russia.
Her case prompted criticism from campaigners, who claimed that a child's welfare would be jeopardised if their mother died while they were still young.
Laurence Shaw, a consultant in reproductive medicine at London Bridge Fertility Centre, gave his support to Adeney.
He said: "The truth is, anybody might not survive to raise their children. Until 100 years ago, our life expectancy was 50 or so, so if you had a baby at 30 you had 20 years with your child.
"Now life expectancy is 80, so is it not reasonable for someone to go through a process of fitness screening to decide whether to have a child?'
But the Church of England took a more sceptical stance, with a spokesman saying: "A child is a gift not a right.
"For those who have never received that gift we can well understand their desire to have children but it is always important to think in those circumstances about what is really in the child's best interests."
The oldest woman in the world to give birth was 70-year-old Omkari Panwar from India, who had a twin boy and girl last year.
