A New Hampshire teacher has become one of the oldest women in the United States to give birth.
Barbara Higgins and husband Kenny Banzhoff welcomed their third child, a baby boy, on March 20. Barbara, who is 57 years old, believes it's not about how old you are but how old you feel.
The decision to have another child didn't come lightly to the couple. Barbara and Kenny decided to try for a third child after a devastating loss nearly five years ago. The couple lost their 13-year-old daughter, Molly, to a brain tumor.
The complicated situation has led to many difficult moments for the family. Still, they are grateful that their baby boy, Jack Kearsley Banzhoff, has come out of the ups and downs of life.
Barbara Higgins has welcomed another child after a heartbreaking few years. The 57-year-old New Hampshire teacher welcomed a baby boy on March 20. It makes her one of the oldest women to have ever given birth in the United States.
Jack Kearsley Banzhoff was born at 5 lbs., 13 oz., and 18.5 inches long. He was a few weeks early, with Barbara scheduled to be induced the week of April 5 and give birth on April 13. That plan changed, however, when Barbara's blood pressure started rising.
Barbara was diagnosed with preeclampsia and decided to check into the hospital Friday night. "It's different for each woman," Barbara told Concord Patch.
"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."
Jack was born after three hours of labor. "Inductions can be tortuous and long," Barbara 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 sort of looked at him, on the bed, and said, 'There he is.'"
"We've beat the odds," husband Kenny Banzhoff told NBC Boston. "I'm so proud of her, she's been a trooper through the whole thing."
Barbara had an easy time during pregnancy, largely because of her active lifestyle. She lifted weights up through the day doctors advised her to go to the hospital, even doing CrossFit.
Jack's birth comes after a period of many difficult years for the couple. In 2016, Kenny and Barbara lost their 13-year-old daughter to a brain tumor.
"Molly was 13 and had an undiagnosed brain tumor and died suddenly," Barbara shared.
Barbara hadn't thought about having more children until she was working through the grief that came with Molly's death. She loved her oldest daughter, Gracie, but saw her coming into her own as a young woman. The more Barbara entertained the thought of growing the family, the more she questioned it.
"I started having these dreams that I wanted to have a child, and I thought, 'OK, Barb, that's a little crazy,'" she said.
Life had other things for Barbara to deal with immediately. There was a lawsuit related to Molly's death that concluded in 2018. She also wanted to make sure Gracie made it through her grief well. Later, Ken developed some health issues that have since resolved.
"We were struggling in every way," she said. "Things were so complex."
As the family started to move through their grief, Barbara began to have dreams about expanding her family again.
"It wasn't a specific person or event, but it was an overriding feeling," Barbara explained.
"It wasn't even about having a baby although [Jack] is the final product."
Barbara brought it up to Ken again as they examined their options. They considered adoption, but Barbara wondered about having a child herself. They decided she should undergo some physical exams to determine whether it would even be possible for her to carry a baby. They learned it would require Barbara to come off a medication she'd been on for several years for nerve pain in her face called trigeminal neuralgia.
Barbara came off the medication, and the pain returned. She decided to have surgery on her jaw, which is when doctors discovered she had brain tumors similar to those Molly had.
"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," Barbara 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."
Barbara then traveled to New York to get the tumors removed. After the surgery, she met with doctors at Boston IVF, who specialized in pregnancies for women in their 50s. It took two rounds of IVF for her to conceive Jack.
"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."
Barbara knows some people have strong feelings about women having children at her age. She says that the situation may seem more certain to some, but at the end of the day, life is unpredictable.
"Nobody can give birth to a baby and know with a certainty that they will be alive to see that baby grow up," she said.
"I don't know how I will be in 10 years … And why should Jack not get to be alive because I'm old?"
