They travelled to eastern Europe to get treatment from an Italian fertility expert.
Dr Rashbrook already has three grown-up children - 26, 22 and 18 - from her first marriage, but her husband has become a father for the first time.
JJ was conceived through IVF using a donor egg and was the result of the couple's fifth and final attempt at the process, which cost £10,000.
Critics have said it was selfish to become parents at their age but they both believe that what is important in parenting is not how old you are, but whether you are meeting all the child's needs. They remain confident that they will be able to do that.
Dr Peter Bowens Simkins, clinical director of the Cromwell IVF and Fertility Centre, in Swansea, said he and others in his profession considered the birth unacceptable.
"I don't think that it is a responsible decision on her part and I don't think it is in the best interests of the child to have a mother who, when he or she is taking say GCSEs, the mother is going to be in her late 70s," he said.
"As long as people have the freedom and movement there's nothing one can do to stop that, but in this country I think it's highly unlikely that we'll see it happening for many years."
But Dr Rashbrook told the Daily Mail, her child was "beautiful", that she felt "it was the right thing to do" and she did not feel too old to have a baby.
She said: "We would not have gone ahead if we'd felt we would not be good enough parents.
"We are both extremely healthy and I have always looked and felt very young, but nevertheless we have younger friends with children who have agreed to act as surrogate parents should anything happen to us.
hat."
Dr Rashbrook described her son, who was delivered by Caesarean section at Sussex County Hospital, in Brighton, on Wednesday, as "adorable", adding: "Having been through so much to have him, we are overjoyed.
"His birth was absolutely wonderful and deeply moving for both of us."
Mr Farrant said the couple had received more than 200 letters, cards and e-mails of goodwill from members of the public and only one, unsigned letter that was "negative in tone".
Speaking outside their home on Saturday following his son's birth, he said: "I'm happy, we are happy."
The couple said the baby had been nicknamed JJ early on in the pregnancy, but are yet to decide what his full name will be.
Dr Rashbrook is not the first woman in her 60s to become a new mother as Liz Buttle, from Wales, was 60 years old when she gave birth to a son, Joseph, in 1997.
The oldest woman in the world to give birth is thought to be Adriana Iliescu, from Romania, who had a daughter, Eliza, in January last year at the age of 66.
July 8 2006 |
