Eldest Mother in the World Gets Guinness Book Certificate

The woman to conceive at the oldest age ever known - 67 - got her certificate from the Guinness World Records on Tuesday, the day her daughter turned six months old.
Adriana Iliescu made headlines around the world when the birth of her child, Eliza Maria Bogdana, by caesarian operation, was made public.

Iliescu wants the best for her child, as any mother would, but most of all she whishes Eliza will stay healthy. The blue-eyed Eliza weighs now 6.3 kilos and is 63-centimeter long; while at birth she weighed 1.4 kilos and measured 4- centimeters in height.
She eats well and had her milk-diet diversified with cottage cheese, bananas and vegetables, of which she does not care much for the carrots.

The little girl was dressed all in pink, like a little princess, for the first photo shooting of her life. She was smiling while protected in her mother’s lap and also showed a lot of personality.

Eliza was a child long awaited for by her mother, hence she will be a happy person "because loved children are well balanced," Iliescu says.

She is a protective mother, not taking the baby to crowded places or having too many people over at her house.

Still, neighbors and people meeting Iliescu by chance in the street - all offer their help.

"Many sent me parcels with clothes, toys and all sorts of things for my girl," she says.

"I never felt people being judgmental; on the contrary, all did their best to help me," she added.

Eliza grows up listening to cultured music, like Rossini, winter carols and piano concertos. "I would like her to learn playing the piano. A piano is one person’s best friend," adds Iliescu. She also dreams for her daughter to become a Romanian language teacher or a physician. Anyway, she says she will not impose her choice on the child.

Whether admired or criticized by others, Iliescu stays happy. Her pregnancy brought up a lot of debate, both in Romania and abroad, but she feels alienated now from her own public image during the days media hoopla was stirred by the birth of her child.
Iliescu confesses now to be in her "narcissist" phase, since whenever she walks the streets men and women alike approach her with words of admiration.
"So, I started to like myself too, for being the eldest mother in the world, for having had the guts to accomplish this," adds Iliescu.

She never ceases to be amazed at her own high level of energy: "I really cannot tell how come that my frail back does not hurt me while I am carrying her," she says. Iliescu insists in raising the child herself. "It is well said that a child’s parents are those that raise him; a lot of young, beautiful women let their parents take care of their children, and I do not understand why: a child only asks for love and care," she said.

She has some help twice a week, but Iliescu does most of the child rearing herself.
Eliza also helps her mother a lot with sleeping all through the night, hence allowing Iliescu to have a good night’s sleep too.
Though she sometimes goes to bed in the wee hours of the night to deal with work she has to do, Iliescu does not feel tired. "It must be the positive effects of having positive thoughts," she says.

She has a lot of projects for the fall, when she hopes to go back to her teaching position at the university. She loves teaching too much to even consider retiring. Iliescu suggested teaching a new course, on "Poetry and Politics." She works a lot to support her child and says she did not receive any support from the state, and yet a lot of private citizens came to her help.

Eliza was born on 16 January 2005, following an in vitro fertilization. Her twin sister stopped from growing when she was 700 grams big. Iliescu miscarried at 20, and doctors told her then she would never be able to conceive again.
In the ‘80s she tried to adopt a child, but did not have his parents’ approval, and at 58 she undertook hormone therapy to reverse the menopause. She miscarried the first pregnancy, but nine years later she fulfilled her dream and had Eliza.