NH Educator Becomes One Of The Oldest Women To Give Birth In U.S.

CONCORD, NH — Concord educator and board of education member Barbara Higgins gave birth to a baby boy on Saturday, Jack Kearsley Banzhoff, her third child, and is now one of the oldest women to give birth in the United States.

Jack came into the word at Concord Hospital a few weeks early, at 5 lbs., 13 ounces, and about 18.5 inches long. Mom is not doing too bad either — despite having Jack at 57-years-old, seven months, and 20 days.

"The whole thing was ridiculously amazing," Higgins said on Monday, during her last scheduled day at the hospital. "But, I'm exhausted."

Originally, Jack was expected to come on April 13, with doctors recommending Higgins be induced a week before that, due to her age. Until Wednesday, unborn Jack and mom were doing great. Spectacular, actually, she said. But then, her blood pressure began to rise and she was diagnosed with preeclampsia, a condition that could have led to organ damage or fatality to Higgins and Jack. By Friday night, she had checked in early to the hospital.

"It's different for each woman," she said. "But my blood pressure was 194 over 115. That's insane. But, I felt completely fine. So, I was a bit irritated, at first. But, when you're in your ninth month and you've made it that far, it was time for him to come out."

On Saturday, Jack was born after about three hours.

"Inductions can be tortuous and long," Higgins said. "They didn't have to use a lot of medication. It was a big push and then, he was out. It was really quick and not expected at all … the doctors just sorta looked at him, on the bed, and said, 'There he is.'"

Jack is "teeny-tiny," Higgins said, but is developing as he should be for a child born three weeks early and is completely fine.

Bringing Jack into the world was not without complications or contemplations for both Higgins and her husband, Ken Banzhoff, especially after they began discussing having another child after the loss of their daughter, Molly Banzhoff, to a brain tumor in May 2016.

Higgins began having dreams and an "overwhelming feeling" that she was meant to have another child. It was not a strange feeling to have, she said, considering everything she was going through. The dreams, eventually, waned, as Higgins, her husband, and first daughter, Gracie, who was becoming a young woman in her own right, struggled with grief and despair. Ken also had health problems that have since been resolved. And there was also a lawsuit concerning Molly's death that was settled in late 2018.

"We were struggling in every way," she said. "Things were so complex."

Higgins went through therapy though, worked to promote remembering Molly via #HeartMollyB T-shirts and educational gifts to schools, too. But later, after dealing with their grief and their lives turning the corner a bit, her dreams came back.

"It wasn't a specific person or event," she said, "but it was an overriding feeling. It wasn't even about having a baby although (Jack) is the final product (of the dreams)."

The couple discussed options, including adoption, and she began to go through physical exams. Could she have a child this late in life?, she thought.

At the time, Higgins was taking medication for a nerve pain in her face called trigeminal neuralgia — described as a sharp almost stabbing-like pain to the jaw area. She had been taking the medication since 2013. But she would have to be off the medication in order to have a baby. Higgins went off the medication. But the pain was overwhelming and she decided to have surgery on her jaw. After getting magnetic resonance imaging done, doctors found she, too, like Molly, had brain tumors. That, Higgins said, seemed to be a sign of sorts.

"If we hadn't been trying to do this, I could have been lying with a drool rag, (in a lifeless state) having survived a stroke, due to the tumors," she said. "The discovery of the tumors would have never happened had I not been going through the process of seeing if I could get pregnant again. It was too bizarre to not be a coincidence."

Higgins went to New York to have the tumors removed and after healing, followed through on the pregnancy idea again. She met with doctors at Boston IVF who specialized in pregnancies for women in their 50s. The first time, it did not take. But the second time, five days before her 57th birthday, did, she said.

Jack, she noted, was named after Jack Owen Dunaway, a boy who died in August 2016 (Higgins wrote about Jack and his mom in this Patch blog post in November).

Higgins said one of the most impressive things in the process, while traveling between doctors and holding meetings, was the commitment they all seem to have to women — listening to their hopes and desires of parenthood, and paying attention to them, she said.

"No one stood there in a white coat and (lectured) me against doing it," she said. "I was very much listened to; it was very, very empowering."

In fact, Higgins added, doctors were pretty amazed at her health condition, stamina, and ability to handle the pregnancy, and bring a child into the world at her age. The age limit, she said, tends to be 55 for in vitro fertilization. But the doctors realized she was healthy while putting her through a battery of tests. Having a baby this late in life, too, could be an example for other women who want to have children, years beyond the average time period, but are convinced not to, she said.

Since having Jack, the response has been nearly all positive with the exception of a single family member, she said. Higgins readily admitted having a child at her age was "whimsical" but added there were many grandparents raising their grandchildren in society today. It will not be that unusual for a 62-year-old to be taking a boy to his first kindergarten class or a 75-year-old attending graduation, she said. Plus, Higgins plans on living a long time, like many in her clan — the average age of death in her family was well into their 90s and a lot of family members, too, who are in their 70s, are "very active." It is the same with her husband's family, she added.

"So, I grew my grandchild," Higgins noted. "It is just a different way of raising children."

While Higgins still works part-time, since she has more things she wants to accomplish professionally, Ken Banzhoff is retired which meant he would get time to spend with his newborn.

At 57-years-old, seven months, and 20 days, Higgins is easily one of the oldest women to bear a child in the United States, according to online searches, and certainly the oldest woman to give birth in New Hampshire, it appears.

Oldest.org claimed in 2017 that Aleta St. James of New York was the oldest woman in America to have a child — at 56 years, 11 months, and 27 days, about eight months younger than Higgins. However, ABC News in August 2012 reported Frieda Birnbaum, at 60, as the oldest woman to have children. Wikipedia lists 10 mothers older than Higgins as giving birth in the United States — although some are unverified. The oldest woman in the world to give birth, in September 2019, is believed to be Erramatti Mangayamma, at 74.

Higgins, though, said some people will say, regardless of everything, it was irresponsible to have Jack at her age. But any criticism will not bother her.

"If that makes me a whack job … then, I am," she said.

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