Dutch woman, 63, gives birth: new country record

"Baby Meagan was born at the Medical Centre Leeuwarden at 9:48 am (0848 GMT) on March 21," said a statement on the website of the hospital in the northern Dutch province of Friesland.

"Meagan is the daughter of Tineke Geessink, a 63-year-old woman from Harlingen."

The girl was born with the aid of Caesarian section, said the statement, adding: "Both mother and daughter are fine".

Dutch media reports said Geessink was the oldest-ever Dutch woman to become a mother.

"It is a feeling that I have had for so long", to have a child, the woman told Dutch public radio, NOS.

"At some point there was something inside me saying: 'It is now or never', and I decided to try everything possible to see if it is still possible."

The NOS said the woman got pregnant through a foreign sperm donor as Dutch fertility doctors would not help her due to her age.

"There is no guarantee that if you have a child at a young age you will see your child grow up," Geessink, a single mother, told the radio.

"Of course, the risk with me is bigger. And whether the child will find it nice to have such an old mother ... I hope that she loves me so much that she will just be glad to have me."

(c) 2011 AFP