Crazy World: Dutch woman, 63, gives birth

Dutch woman, 63, gives birth

(AGENCY)

THE HAGUE: A 63-year-old Dutch woman has given birth, becoming the oldest-ever new mother in the Netherlands.

"Baby Meagan was born at the Medical Centre Leeuwarden at 9.48am (1948 AEDT) on March 21," a statement on the website of the hospital in the northern Dutch province of Friesland said.

"Meagan is the daughter of Tineke Geessink, a 63-year-old woman from Harlingen."

The girl was born with the aid of Caesarian section, said the statement. "Both mother and daughter are fine."

Dutch media reports said Geessink was the oldest-ever Dutch woman to become a mother.

"It is a feeling that I have had for so long" to have a child, the woman told Dutch public radio, NOS.

"At some point there was something inside me saying: 'It's now or never', and I decided to try everything possible to see if it is still possible."

NOS said the woman got pregnant through a foreign sperm donor as Dutch fertility doctors would not help her due to her age.

"There is no guarantee that if you have a child at a young age you will see your child grow up," Geessink, a single mother, told the radio.

"Of course, the risk with me is bigger. And whether the child will find it nice to have such an old mother ... I hope that she loves me so much that she will just be glad to have me."
 
Caterpillars force plane down

(AGENCY)

BRISBANE: Green caterpillars have been blamed for forcing a plane down shortly after take-off at Brisbane Airport in January.

An aviation report lodged with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau shows the 20-seater Dornier-Werke plane experienced problems with onboard equipment 46 kilometres from the airport on January 27.

The plane returned to Brisbane and landed safely without injury to anyone on board.

An engineering inspection found several green caterpillars in the pressure-sensitive instruments.

An ATSB spokesman said the incident would not be further investigated for financial reasons.

"We're only resourced to undertake so many investigations a year," he said.

Jim Carden, from the Brisbane Airport Corporation, said he could not recall a similar incident.
 
20-month-old toddler gets drunk

(REUTERS)

HOUSTON: A mother from Houston has been arrested after her 20-month-old daughter was found drunk on Four Loko. She has also been charged with child endangerment.
 
Police were called to Lashawnda Allen''s apartment by Allen''s roommate, who came home that afternoon to find Allen in the parking lot, talking to a neighbor while her children were inside their apartment unsupervised, reported CBS News.
 
Allen told the roommate that the two kids were in the apartment and that her toddler was drunk. When the roommate rushed inside to check on the kids, she found Allen''s 4-month-old baby hanging off the bed with the sheets tangled around her waist, turning blue. But, the 20-month-old was nowhere to be found, the station reported.
 
A neighbor told police she had found the toddler in the parking lot and the toddler appeared to be intoxicated. The roommate then called an ambulance, reports the station.
 
Allen admitted she''d been drinking Four Loko that day and had fallen asleep. When she woke up she said she saw the toddler on the floor with an empty Four Loko can, the station reports.
 
Allen told police she was afraid to call an ambulance because she didn''t want to lose her kids, KHOU reports.
 
When the ambulance finally did arrive at Allen''s home that day, the 20-month-old was taken to LBJ Hospital, where her blood alcohol level was found to be 0.09, court documents said.
 
Allen was being held in the Harris County Jail on $2,000 bond.
 
Cobra operated upon, 'advised' full bed rest

(AGENCY)

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A 5.5-foot cobra has been advised "complete bed rest" after a vet conducted a two-hour, life-saving surgery on it here.

Last week, conservationist Vava Suresh stumbled across the half-dead reptile at a construction site on the city outskirts. A bulldozer had gone over it puncturing its abdomen. The intestines had popped out.

Suresh immediately rushed it to the local veterinary hospital. "The surgery wasn't really complicated, but operations such as these rarely happen," Rajeswari T, senior surgeon at the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Against Animals Hospital said.

A portion of the snake's large intestine was hanging out and had ruptured at two places, the vet explained. She administered anaethesia and operatedupon the snake.

"It will take a week for the stitched-up cobra to recuperate completely. During this period, it will administered two antibiotic shots and pain killers daily. These injections will be given by the side of the spine," Suresh said. The animal still cannot eat anything.
 
Fast food pays off in the long run

(AFP)

LOS ANGELES: A marathon runner who vowed to eat only McDonald's in the 30 days leading up to the Los Angeles Marathon has beaten his own personal best time at the event and finished 29th overall.

Illinois man Joe D'Amico ran the marathon in two hours, 36 minutes and 13 seconds, last Sunday beating his previous personal record by 41 seconds, the Chicago Sun-Times said.

"It went just as I planned," Mr D'Amico said after completing the 42.1km race.

"The course was much tougher than I expected and the wind and rain didn't help, but I felt strong."

In the month leading up to the marathon, D'Amico ate 99 meals at McDonald's.

His typical daily intake consisted of hotcakes and an Egg McMuffin for breakfast, a grilled chicken burger and a large Coke for lunch, and a hamburger and fries for dinner.

He allowed himself to drink water and take a daily multivitamin and a runner's supplement.

He said he took on the personal challenge because he loves McDonald's and running, and but insisted he was not trying to make a point.

His effort garnered more than 23,000 Facebook fans and raised $27,000 for Ronald McDonald House Charities.

D'Amico said his wife chose the restaurant where they ate last night.

"We managed to walk past a couple of McDonald's restaurants after the race without stopping," he said.

"I'll probably be back in a McDonald's sometime next week."

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