Woman has twins at 60, hopes to inspire others

HACKENSACK, N.J. — The psychologist who gave birth to twin boys at age 60 said Thursday she was on a mission to let women know they have choices.

"It's really basically about women and empowerment," Frieda Birnbaum told NBC's "Today" show.

Birnbaum, who underwent in-vitro fertilization last year at a South African clinic that specializes in older women, gave birth by Caesarean section on Tuesday at Hackensack University Medical Center.

"I don't feel like I went through a lot of trauma during delivery or even through the process of being pregnant," Birnbaum said.

The hospital said she was the nation's oldest mother of twins.

"Age has been redefined," Birnbaum said.

She and her husband, Ken, a New York City attorney, have been married for 38 years and have three other children — sons ages 33 and 6 and a daughter, 29.

The couple wanted another child closer in age to their youngest son, and Birnbaum's husband said it was his idea for his wife to become pregnant instead of adopting.

"I couldn't be happier about the way it worked out," Ken Birnbaum told "Today."

Their daughter has said she worries about Birnbaum taking care of the twins when they're in their teens and she's in her late 70s — concerns dismissed by Birnbaum on Thursday.

"I hope I'm a role model for my daughter, that when she gets older that she can make her own decisions based on who she is rather than what society dictates," she said.

She said that people who consider new motherhood at her age inappropriate "need to get ready for what's coming up in our society."

The couple plan to take their sons home on Saturday.