60-Year-Old Woman Gives Birth To Twins

A 60-year-old New Jersey psychologist gave birth to two boys Tuesday, making her possibly the oldest woman ever to deliver twins in the United States.

Frieda Birnbaum gave birth to "Baby A" at 12:44 p.m. and "Baby B" a minute later by Caesarean section at Hackensack University Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Nancy Radwin said. The twins each weighed 4 pounds, 11 ounces, she said.

Birnbaum told CBS' The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm that age and longevity were not considerations for her. "I didn't know I was that old. And then I'm looking at the media and seeing '60-year-old woman.' I said, 'That's me?' Because I don't know what age means, you know? I feel like a 40-year-old."

"It's being defined as something incredible. I'm not doing anything incredible; my energy, my pregnancy, my delivery — there were no complications.

Birnbaum, a psychologist from Saddle River, underwent in-vitro fertilization last year in Cape Town, South Africa, at a center that specializes in older women. She and her husband, Ken, a New York attorney, have been married for 38 years.

"I suppose age has been redefined, hopefully," she told Storm, admitting that her television appearance was in part to let other women know that "if they feel like it and they feel young enough, go do whatever it is you want to do. It's about empowerment for women."

Birnbaum was not concerned by the fact that she would be 80 when her twin boys attend college. "My parents both lived on into their 90s," she said. "My father was 92; my mother was 89. They were mentally sound. And they'd both be alive [today] if not for medical negligence. So we've had no problems with that decision, as far as longevity is concerned."

She said she and her husband wanted their 6 ½-year-old boy to have siblings of a comparable age. (They have two older children — a son, 33, and a daughter, 29).

Coincidentally, Tuesday was the birthday of twins born one year ago to a 59-year-old woman — also to a New Jersey woman. Lauren Cohen gave birth to Gregory and Giselle on May 22, 2006, at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia.

Cohen said Birnbaum contacted her after seeing her name in a magazine and that the two quickly became friends.

"We talked about babies; I suggested things that would be helpful when you try to feed two babies simultaneously," Cohen said.