The Charlotte Observer- pg18A Thursday, July 16, 2009
This is the story of Maria del Carmen Bousada who was declared as the oldest woman to give birth by the Guinness Book of World Records after having twins at the age of 69. After caring for her elderly mother who died at the age of 101, Maria decided to have children. But the problem was that she was 69 years old. Showing intense motivation she underwent strong hormonal treatments to reverse 20 years of menopause, and had her uterus ‘rejuvenated’ by even more hormonal treatments after lying to the fertility clinic about her age, which she said was 55. She was slender with dark hair and looked uncommonly young for her age, and so the clinic believed her. The health risks were not all that Maria paid for her twins though, she even sold her house for $59,000 to pay for In-vitro fertilization. Sadly, Maria was diagnosed with a tumor shortly after giving birth and died by the time the twins were three years old.
In chapter 8 of our text, “Motivation and Emotion”, the concepts between the reasons we do things and what thought processes and other factors influence us to do them is discussed. Maria’s behavior is a good example of how emotional and cognitive factors can be strong motivators. Perhaps since Maria spent so much time caring for her mother that after she died, she felt as though her life didn’t have much meaning, or it could be that she always wanted children but had to put her dreams on hold to care for her mother.
Whatever it was, there was definitely strong emotion that motivated Maria to her shocking behavior. Cognitive motivators came into play as well, because Maria must have felt very confident in her ability to have children and raise them despite her age, health, and finances. The way she perceived herself made it obvious that she expected to live for many more years, and the precise planning of her actions did lead to her partial success, so her thought processes definitely played a big role in the manifestation of her desires.
This is the story of Maria del Carmen Bousada who was declared as the oldest woman to give birth by the Guinness Book of World Records after having twins at the age of 69. After caring for her elderly mother who died at the age of 101, Maria decided to have children. But the problem was that she was 69 years old. Showing intense motivation she underwent strong hormonal treatments to reverse 20 years of menopause, and had her uterus ‘rejuvenated’ by even more hormonal treatments after lying to the fertility clinic about her age, which she said was 55. She was slender with dark hair and looked uncommonly young for her age, and so the clinic believed her. The health risks were not all that Maria paid for her twins though, she even sold her house for $59,000 to pay for In-vitro fertilization. Sadly, Maria was diagnosed with a tumor shortly after giving birth and died by the time the twins were three years old.
In chapter 8 of our text, “Motivation and Emotion”, the concepts between the reasons we do things and what thought processes and other factors influence us to do them is discussed. Maria’s behavior is a good example of how emotional and cognitive factors can be strong motivators. Perhaps since Maria spent so much time caring for her mother that after she died, she felt as though her life didn’t have much meaning, or it could be that she always wanted children but had to put her dreams on hold to care for her mother.
Whatever it was, there was definitely strong emotion that motivated Maria to her shocking behavior. Cognitive motivators came into play as well, because Maria must have felt very confident in her ability to have children and raise them despite her age, health, and finances. The way she perceived herself made it obvious that she expected to live for many more years, and the precise planning of her actions did lead to her partial success, so her thought processes definitely played a big role in the manifestation of her desires.
I agree with you, sounds like she didn't have much a sense of herself and spent her days doing the only thing she could which was be a care giver. Sad that those babies lost their mom so young.
ReplyDeleteI see it another way - classic narcissim. She didn't lose her sense of self, she felt entitled to children. Her own desire/wants led her to misrepresent her age to bring new people into the world. 69 years old! She was planing on being 87 when they graduated from high school! That should be criminal. Those poor children. Narcissim that will severely affect her children.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lisa and Jake for your interesting comments.
ReplyDeleteI feel more sympathy for the children than the mother. They will now have to grow up wondering why they have no mother. It seems rather selfish for someone to do this & the consequences of her actions were more severe than anyone might have imagined. assuming that more people become aware of this it might make a recurrence of such a thing less likely.
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