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After 23 Years Of Battling Infertility, Failed IVF, I Conceived Twins Naturally – 49-year-old Woman

Published

4 years ago

March 6, 2022

An overwhelming joy lit up her face the first time she saw her twin children – a boy and a girl. Carrying a pregnancy without any reproductive assistance during her run-up to the fifth decade is a big deal for her.

Mrs. Modupe Gabriel had no plan to have children late but things ended up that way for her as she had to battle infertility for 23 years.

While she peers intently at her ‘miracle babies’, her mind flashed back to the years she was fervently expectant and battling infertility.

She visited several hospitals in her quest to get a solution to her fertility problem and even had a failed In vitro fertilisation treatment.

She recalled how she had to put on a brave face while with family and friends. Mrs. Gabriel, however, says she never slipped into a panic because of her condition but rather remained hopeful.

As a school proprietress in Lagos, she kept on with her work and responsibilities as a wife. She made up her mind never to compromise her faith despite the challenges.

Fortunately, she was confirmed pregnant a few months after her 49th birthday.

“I had been advised by people to go diabolical to have a child, I spent a lot of money going to hospitals, I’ve had a failed IVF but I’ve kept on trusting only in God.

“I’ve always believed that anything God cannot give me, I don’t want. We waited patiently and it is indeed worth it, though it seems so tough and discouraging, however, with God by our side, it became a thing of the past,” the delighted mother said.

For Mrs. Gabriel, being older didn’t mean biting her nails with worry through the pregnancy despite the risks involved.

“I was told I had gotten to my menopausal stage but I was still menstruating. When I was confirmed pregnant, my doctor told me I needed to be on bed rest but I was strong and I was able to do my job in my school, I wasn’t idle or lazy, I was up and doing,” she said.

Her children arrived in the New Year – January 25, 2022.

Pregnancy after age 45 likely, but rare

Her late pregnancy is rare, but she is certainly not alone. While there is no national data on women with late pregnancy without reproductive assistance, findings show that few women in their late 50s have natural conception and deliver healthy babies.

Experts say pregnancy after age 45 years is considered a high risk for the mother and baby.

A Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Rotimi Akinola said it is out of the ordinary to have a baby in the late 40s or 50s but nothing is impossible.

“In medicine, you never say never. So, if somebody has late menopause, she still has eggs to shed, so it’s not impossible for that person to get pregnant, maybe accidentally.”

“The only thing is that the eggs that will be shed at 49 have a high risk of genetic abnormality,” Akinola said.

According to him, conceiving a child without IVF or other interventions presents an increased risk of certain chromosomal problems with age.

“For people from the age of 37, they begin to have that risk so I won’t be surprised if, at 49, you have a risk of about 1 in 60 that it might be genetically abnormal, chromosomal abnormal like Down syndrome.”

Prof. Akinola, however, noted that most times, women with late pregnancy are not honest with the method of pregnancy.

“When you are hearing that 60 years old give birth, they often do with assistance and often, that assistance is with donated eggs.

“Plenty of women in their 40s have children but have a high risk of genetic abnormality. As long as you’re not menopausal, it’s possible that they still have a few eggs and those eggs can still yield children but from 59, most women in that age group will be menopausal and menopause simply means no more eggs. If such a person menstruates, it will send panic to the doctors because the person might be dealing with tumors.

“When the eggs are no longer there, the only way that person can conceive is through assisted reproduction with the help of donated eggs.”

Risk for complications increases

The gynaecologist said it will be challenging for such a woman to maintain her health because of the chance of becoming hypertensive or diabetic.

He noted that the older an egg, the more likely it is to have chromosomal issues, which can increase the child’s risk for birth defects.

PUNCH

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Trump Gives Update On Israel, Hamas Peace Deal

Published

13 hours ago

October 8, 2025

Editor

Trump Gives Update On Israel, Hamas Peace Deal

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he may go to the Middle East at the end of this week as a peace deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is “very close.”

Trump said during an event at the White House that he would “go to Egypt most likely” but that he would also consider going to war-torn Gaza.

“I may go there sometime toward the end of the week, maybe on Sunday, actually. And we’ll see, but there is a very good chance. Negotiations are going along very well,” Trump told reporters at the start of the event.

“Our final negotiation, as you know, is with Hamas, and it seems to be going well. So we’ll let you know, if that’s the case, we’ll be leaving probably on Sunday, maybe on Saturday.”

Near the end of the meeting, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio unexpectedly entered the room and handed Trump a note.

The US president told reporters the note said that “we’re very close to a deal” and that his presence was needed. “I have to go now to try and solve some problems in the Middle East,” he added.

Hamas and Israeli officials are having indirect talks in Egypt on a 20-point peace proposal unveiled by Trump to end the two-year-old war.

– ‘Very close’ –

Trump said as he began the event that he had come off the phone with officials in the Middle East, where his special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner had just joined discussions in Egypt.

“‘Peace for the Middle East,’ that’s a beautiful phrase, and we hope it’s going to come true, but it’s very close, and they’re doing very well,” Trump added.

“We have a great team over there, great negotiators, and they’re, unfortunately, great negotiators on the other side also. But it’s something I think that will happen.”

Asked if he would consider going to Gaza if a deal happens, Trump replied: “I would, yeah. I would. I might do that. I may do that. We haven’t decided exactly.”

Trump said he would insist on the release of hostages held by Hamas before traveling to the region.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said earlier that he had received “encouraging” signs and hailed the support of Trump.

Hamas too expressed “optimism” over the indirect discussions with its foe Israel.

Trump’s plan calls for a ceasefire, the release of all the hostages held in Gaza, Hamas’s disarmament and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from the territory.
AFP

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INTERPOL Arrests Nigerian In Argentina Over Multi-country Romance Scam

Published

20 hours ago

October 8, 2025

Editor

A Nigerian national identified as Ikechukwu N. has been arrested in Argentina for allegedly orchestrating multiple online romance scams targeting thousands of victims across several countries, according to a statement released by INTERPOL on Tuesday.

The arrest was made under Operation Jackal, an INTERPOL-led operation focusing on West African organised criminal groups involved in cyber fraud, money laundering, and related transnational crimes.

INTERPOL announced via its official X handle that Ikechukwu’s arrest marked Argentina’s first arrest of a fugitive under a Red Notice who was simultaneously listed in the organisation’s Silver Notice database — a new project aimed at tracing and recovering criminal assets worldwide.

The statement read: “Argentine authorities have captured Nigerian national Ikechukwu N., marking the country’s first arrest of a #RedNotice fugitive who was also the subject of an INTERPOL Silver Notice. The suspect is accused of orchestrating multiple romance scams involving thousands of women, and leading an international cybercrime network.”

INTERPOL added that the arrest was jointly carried out by the Argentine Federal Police and the Airport Security Police, with assistance from the INTERPOL Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre (IFCACC), the Federal Intelligence Secretariat (FIS), and INTERPOL Brazil.

The Silver Notice project, piloted in January 2025, enables member countries to share intelligence on the location and recovery of illicitly acquired assets linked to transnational crime.

Although details of the victims and total financial losses remain undisclosed, the operation is part of a broader international crackdown on cyber-enabled fraud schemes traced to West African syndicates.

Nigeria has been a focal point of similar investigations. In December 2024, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) announced the arrest of 792 suspects — including foreign nationals — linked to a crypto-romance fraud ring operating from Lagos.

The syndicate reportedly targeted victims in the Americas and Europe through social media and messaging platforms, promising relationships and fake investment opportunities before defrauding them.

INTERPOL said further investigations into Ikechukwu’s activities are ongoing, with cooperation expected between Argentine authorities, Nigerian law enforcement, and other international partners involved in Operation Jackal.

Always ask who coin these words, who to benefit from such words

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Eswatini Jails 10 Africans Deported From US

Published

3 days ago

October 6, 2025

Editor

The African kingdom of Eswatini said it received and jailed 10 more deportees from the United States on Monday as part of a US scheme to expel undocumented migrants.

Eswatini took in a first group of five men in July, with Ghana, Rwanda, and South Sudan also accepting US deportees in recent months in a programme criticised by rights groups.

The tiny southern African nation agreed in May to accept up to 160 deportees in exchange for $5.1 million to “build its border and migration management capacity”, according to a deal signed with the United States and seen by AFP.

Its correctional services department said in a statement Monday it “confirms the arrival of ten (10) third country nationals from the United States of America”.

It did not give details but said they had been “securely accommodated in one of the country’s correctional facilities” and the government would “facilitate their orderly repatriation”.

A US-based attorney representing some of the deportees said the new group included “three Vietnamese, one Filipino, one Cambodian”.

The lawyer, Tin Thanh Nguyen, represents two of the Vietnamese nationals who arrived Monday.

“One of my clients … tried to assert a reasonable fear of harm being deported to Eswatini, but ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) ignored him and put him on the plane anyways,” he told AFP.

He also represents a Vietnamese and a Laotian who were part of the first group which also included nationals from Cuba, Jamaica and Yemen.

– ‘Legal black hole’ –

The deal that Eswatini signed with the United States on May 14 says that the US deportees may include third country nationals “with criminal backgrounds and/or who are designated suspected terrorists”.

Washington said the first group of men had been convicted of crimes in the United States, including child rape and murder, but their lawyers told AFP that all five had long finished serving their sentences.

Eswatini jailed them in its maximum security Matsapha Correctional Centre which is notorious for holding political prisoners and for overcrowding.

One of them, a 62-year-old Jamaican who had reportedly completed a sentence for murder in the United States, was sent back to his country around two weeks ago.

Nguyen said Eswatini was a “legal black hole” and the deportees were denied legal counsel.

His two clients had been detained since mid-July without a charge, he said.

“I cannot call them. I cannot email them. I cannot communicate through local counsel because the Eswatini government blocks all attorney access,” he told AFP.

Lawyers and civil society groups in Eswatini have gone to court to challenge the legality of the detentions.

A local lawyer on Friday won a court ruling allowing him to visit the four men still detained, but the government immediately appealed, suspending the ruling.

US President Donald Trump has overseen a drastic expansion of the practice of deporting people to countries other than their nation of origin, notably by sending hundreds to a notorious prison in El Salvador.

But rights experts have warned the deportations risk breaking international law by sending people to nations where they face the risk of torture, abduction and other abuses.

Human Rights Watch last month urged African governments to refuse to accept US deportees and to terminate deals already in effect, saying they violated global rights law.

Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland and landlocked by neighbours South Africa and Mozambique, has been led by King Mswati III since 1986 and his government has been accused of human rights violations.