'Divine Irony': 50-Year-Old North Carolina Woman Welcomes Her First Child with 61-Year-Old Husband After Almost a Decade of Trying

Susie and Tony Troxler of North Carolina, have much to be thankful for this holiday season. After years of trying, the pair, 50 and 61 years old respectively, became parents to a newborn baby girl, an experience the mother has described as being surreal.

“I don’t even have the words, it’s surreal,” Susie told TODAY Parents. “I still can’t believe it. I spent so much time being me, first, and then being a wife. So now, this idea of being a mom is… it’s still a ‘wow’ for me.”

However, the couple’s bundle of joy did not come without its share of obstacles. “We didn’t even realize there was a fertility issue when we got married because we were just doing the couple thing,” the new mother explained. “I was working, he was working, and we were just busy.”

North Carolina couple Susie and Tony Troxler welcomes their first child, Lily, at 50 and 61 years of age, respectively, after nearly a decade of trying. Photo: screenshot/WFMY YouTube

After eight years had passed without positive pregnancy results for the couple, the Troxlers sought help from the Carolinas Fertility Institute in Greensboro, after being referred there by Susie’s physician who suggested she might be suffering from fibroids, otherwise known as noncancerous growths of the uterus, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Not only was Susie Troxler’s doctor correct but the woman had also been diagnosed with endometriosis — a painful gynecological condition in which endometrial-type tissue grows outside the uterus. Tony Troxler’s health also played a contributing factor to the couple’s inability to conceive children.

With all their options and risk, including gestational diabetes, premature birth and fetal chromosomal abnormalities, laid out in front of them, the couple decided to push through with their decision to have kids.

“He was very clear that this was going to be an uphill battle from the beginning,” she explained. “I had fibroid surgery January of 2019, went through the healing process, and then they collected egg after egg. I went through several rounds of egg retrieval and the insemination of eggs and none of it took. Nothing, nothing, nothing.”

Following a second procedure in late 2019 and a COVID-19 pandemic, the pair attempted a final effort. “It was not going to happen,” Susie said “There wasn’t supposed to be a baby.” “We had that second embryo, frozen, and we knew we didn’t want to leave it frozen forever. So we moved forward and they did an embryo transfer. And here we are — parents,” she added.

With the pregnancy being so high risk, Susie was forced to have a C-section, which was scheduled exactly six months from her birthday. It’s what I call divine irony,” she said. “So I knew that was going to be her day. The Troxlers welcomed their first child, baby Lily Troxler on Sept 29, weighing five pounds and 12.8 ounces.