51-year-old Kimberly Chasteen welcomed her seventh child – 35 years after her first was born.
The mother-of-seven and grandmother of five was only 16-years-old when she welcomed her first daughter Jessica, 35 in 1986, going on to have five more children: Kayla, 33, Richard, 31, Blake, 20, Briar, 19 and Balin, 17.
Kimberly decided to have her ғᴀʟʟᴏᴘɪᴀɴ ᴛᴜʙᴇs ᴛɪᴇᴅ at the age of 20 after her first three children, but then reversed the ᴏᴘᴇʀᴀᴛɪᴏɴ at 30 to welcome three more kids. She then underwent another ᴛᴜʙᴀʟ ʟɪᴛɪɢᴀᴛɪᴏɴ at 34 only to reverse the ᴏᴘᴇʀᴀᴛɪᴏɴ again in 2019 after meeting a new partner. Despite approaching 50, Kimberly still dreamt of having a seventh child – so dedicated the following three years to getting ᴘʀᴇɢɴᴀɴᴛ and spent around £23,000 on ⒾⓋⒻ to make it happen. And Kimberly says the process hasn’t been without its challenges. She said:” It’s been a really rough journey, I’ve spent about $35,000 and went through a lot. Trying to find a ᴅᴏᴄᴛᴏʀ who would even sign off on it for my age when was hard. It’s not like just anyone would sign off on it, you have to go through a whole host of things. They have to do a complete ʜᴇᴀʟᴛʜ ʜɪsᴛᴏʀʏ on you to see if it’s even possible for you to ᴄᴀʀʀʏ a child. They shut down my ᴄʏᴄʟᴇs sᴇᴠᴇʀᴀʟ times before we actually got to the initial transfer because when there were ʀᴇᴅ ғʟᴀɢs and if they see something they’re not going to ʀɪsᴋ it.”
Eventually, Kimberly fell ᴘʀᴇɢɴᴀɴᴛ and gave birth to Tyrique ᴘʀᴇᴍᴀᴛᴜʀᴇʟʏ, after sᴜғғᴇʀɪɴɢ a ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇɴᴛᴀ ᴀʙʀᴜᴘᴛɪᴏɴ at 32 weeks. Now, the family are excited to meet their new sibling when he comes home from ʜᴏsᴘɪᴛᴀʟ. Kimberly said: ” My kids are very bonded and love each other very much, they won’t say that Tyrique isn’t their biological brother, they’ll say, ‘he’s my brother.’ They have a lot of love in their hearts and are really great kids, I’m very fortunate that they have each other. I’m blessed. He’s growing every day and he’s getting stronger every day, he’s my little fighter, he’s my lucky charm. I’m looking forward to bringing him home.”
