Naomi Campbell has become a first-time mom. The supermodel, 50, just welcomed a daughter, according to an Instagram post she published on May 18. The image is a closeup of Campbell's hand cradling a pair of baby feet.
"A beautiful little blessing has chosen me to be her mother," Campbell wrote in the caption. "So honoured [sic] to have this gentle soul in my life there are no words to describe the lifelong bond that I now share with you my angel. There is no greater love." The name of the baby has yet to be revealed.
In light of the news, several famous friends and fans sounded off in the comments, sending words of congratulations and excitement.
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"Oh my God!!!!! Today is the day?? How absolutely incredible," follows fashion designer and colleague Marc Jacobs in the comments, revealing that the baby is a girl. "How lucky she is and how lucky you are! What a wonderful Mother you will be. Blessings all around."
Campbell hasn't been silent about wanting to be a mom. She told the UK's Evening Standard in 2017, "I think about having children all the time…. But now with the way science is, I think I can do it when I want."
Having a baby at age 50
Though it's not unheard of to become a first-time mom at age 50, experts say it's rare—mainly because as a woman gets into her 40s the health of her eggs declines, making conception and pregnancy difficult. (The average age of menopause, when egg production ends, is 51.) But that doesn't mean it's impossible, especially with the help of assisted reproductive technology. Though Campbell hasn't shared her method of conception, here are a few options for how a person can have a baby at 50 or beyond.
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In-vitro fertilization with donor eggs or embryos
In-vitro fertilization is an extended procedure during which doctors retrieve your eggs, fertilize them in the lab, and implant the resulting embryo(s) in your uterus. Because an older woman's eggs might not be healthy enough for traditional IFV, donor egg or donor embryo in-vitro fertilization (IVF) is one of the most viable options for women over the age of 50, Cary Dicken, MD, a reproductive endocrinologist at RMA Long Island IVF in New York, tells Health. Donor egg IVF involves the donation of a usually younger egg, which can be your own that was frozen at an earlier age or an egg donated from another person. Donor embryo IVF is the donation of an embryo, either an embryo of your own frozen previously or one from another couple.
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Surrogacy
Through a surrogate (aka, a gestational carrier), another person carries the pregnancy to term in your place. A fertility doctor vets the carrier's health to make sure they are capable of carrying the pregnancy to term. An embryo, whether your own or a donor embryo, is transferred into the surrogate's uterus, where the embryo develops just as any other embryo.
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Natural conception
Whether with a partner or a sperm donor, Dr. Dicken suggests that this method is extremely unlikely for women older than 50, resulting in less than 1% of viable pregnancies, even with IVF. However, "As long as a woman ovulates and there's sperm, there's always a possibility [for full-term birth]," Dicken adds.
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