Britain's Oldest Mother of Twins

At 58, professional single woman and former barrister and teacher Carol Hobson has become Britain's oldest mother of twins. Conceived by IVF the twins are for her a dream come true. However, it meant she had to go through a multiple pregnancy which had be reduced for health reasons as originally Carol conceived triplets but to bring them to full term would have compromised the health of both herself and the babies. That was why after a full early scan Ms Hobson agreed to reduce the pregnancy.

It was on Christmas Eve that Ms Hobson gave birth to twins Matthew and Freida by emergency Caesarian. This means that she is the oldest mother of twins in the country. The babies weighed at birth 3 lbs 3 oz each having been born nine weeks prematurely at Medway Hospital in Gillingham, Kent.

Ms Hobson on Tuesday, speaking on ITV's Daybreak programm, defended her decision to have IVF fertility treatment and to become an older mother. She explained that the egg was supplied by an Indian woman and that the sperm was from a Scandinavian engineer. Ms Hobson said she travelled to India five times to try IVF and that she always knew that success would be possible. She feels that something inside was keeping her going throughout the process.

Ms Hobson described her family's attitude to her becoming a mother at an older age as positive and encouraging. She said: "When I made my first attempt, they were all delighted and thrilled for me and terribly disappointed when it didn't work. When I reached the decision to make my fifth attempt, I didn't tell anyone."

Ms Hobson has laid herself open to criticism of selfishness for opting to have IVF treatment in order to fulfil her dream of motherhood at what many consider to be an advanced age for pregnancy. However, she gave very valid justification to have children at her age.

She said: "Lots of people do do that. I was looking at adoption when I found out it was medically possible to carry my own child and there was no issue about age with the adoption route.And some people, in circumstances they do not choose, look after children at a similar age as myself - as long as they are looked after, that's the main thing."

Finally she said that the twins are doing very well and everything is fine with them.

What's this?