A 57-year-old New England teacher became the oldest woman in the United States to give birth this past weekend.
Barbara Higgins, of New Hampshire, gave birth to a baby boy on Saturday (March 20), NBC Boston reports.
"We've beat the odds," her husband, Kenny Banzhoff, told NBC Boston. "I'm so proud of her, she's been a trooper through the whole thing."
Higgins, a lifelong athlete, said her CrossFit routine helped her prepare for her third pregnancy, continuing to lift weights leading up to the day she went into labor.
But it was the couple's emotional strength that tested the most following the death of their 13-year-old daughter, Molly, in 2016.
"Molly was 13 and had an undiagnosed brain tumor and died suddenly," Higgins told NBC Boston.
Higgins said she became consumed with the thought of getting pregnant again while working through the grief that followed Molly's death.
"I started having these dreams that I wanted to have a child, and I thought, 'OK, Barb, that's a little crazy,'" Higgins said.
The couple found an IVF clinic in Boston that treated women in their 50s and decided to try for another child, which led to the birth of their newborn, Jack, over the weekend.
"Jack is here, he's a little boy on the planet, and he gets to live a life," Higgins said.
You can read more about the miracle birth here.
Photo: Getty Images