The Oldest Mother on the Block

A film by Cat Ashworth

Everyone over the age of twelve knows how a baby is made. But for the fastest growing age group of women having babies, the magical process of sperm meeting egg takes place in a Petri dish. Many women over age forty soon realize that their own eggs have expired. These women decide to use eggs donated from a younger woman. This film follows three older women, as they struggle to achieve a pregnancy and later, as they cope with the unique problems of being an older mom.

Eileen and Mike visit a fertility specialist who talks about Eileen's "egg problem." At first, they are told that there is less than a five per cent chance of conceiving using her own eggs. In the end they use donor eggs after considering all their options. Another woman uses donor sperm, chosen online. She gives birth to twin baby boys. The filmmaker and her husband conceive with donor eggs "...after wasting 25 years of good eggs!" She becomes pregnant at age 47 and now has a healthy five year old daughter who is asking them uncomfortable questions about her biological mother. These women are all pushing the limits of their biological clocks. They are struggling with pregnancy and small children at an age when many of their peers are becoming grandmothers, and they are redefining the image of motherhood. Included are interviews with several doctors and with Nancy London, MSW and author of Hot Flashes, Warm Bottles: First-Time Mothers Over Forty, who discusses how fertility declines with age.

Best Documentary, Ohio Independent Film Festival, 2006

60 min. Video or DVD. Sale $295. Video Rental $85. For personal copies, call 212 808 4980.

"It is almost impossible to place this film into any one category: it is a social film; a medical film; a woman's film; a historical film; but most importantly, it is a human film. As an African-American male, OMOB opened a window to a growing population that I had never thought about before. It was simply astounding." ---Omobowale Ayorinde, Instructor, Rochester Institute of Technology

" The film honestly examines the complex tangle of emotions that late motherhood raises. From fertility problems and IVF to fears about the future and the exhaustion of chasing a toddler around, Ashworth offers an intimate, thoughtful look at a big topic." ----Jennifer Loviglio, City Newspaper, Rochester, NY