Nigerian woman, 68, gives birth to twins after four IVF attempts

Nigerian mother Margaret Adenuga and her husband Noah with their twins, a boy and a girl on April 19, 2020 at the maternity ward of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital in Lagos, Nigeria. (Lagos University Teaching Hospital)

A Nigerian woman has given birth to twins, a boy, and a girl at the age of 68.

Margaret Adenuga went through three previous IVF procedures before finally having twins.

Her husband Noah Adenuga, 77 told CNN the couple, who married in 1974 had long desired to have a child of their own.

Adenuga said they never gave up even after the failed attempts.

The retired stock auditor told CNN, "I am a dreamer, and I was convinced this particular dream of ours will come to pass."

The babies were delivered via caesarian section at 37 weeks last Tuesday at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) but the hospital only recently made the news public to give the first-time mother time to recuperate, it said.

Dr. Adeyemi Okunowo, who delivered the babies, told CNN a specialist team was assembled at the hospital to monitor the pregnancy because of her age.

"As an elderly woman and a first-time mother, it was a high-risk pregnancy and also because she was going to have twins but we were able to manage her pregnancy to term," Okunowo told CNN.

Last year, a 73-year-old Indian woman was safely delivered of twin girls after she conceived through IVF and is reported to be the oldest person to give birth at that age.

Okunowo said even though older women are able to conceive through IVF, doctors must lay bare the medical risks associated with being pregnant at that age.

"There are age-related medical complications that come with being pregnant at that age such as the baby being born preterm. She's lucky but many may succumb to other complications during or after having a baby," he told CNN.