At 52, Woman Is Oldest in U.S. to Have In-Vitro Baby : Medicine: Donor egg was combined with her husband’s sperm. Mother and child doing well, hospital officials say.

A 52-year-old mother was expected to return home today after apparently making history by becoming the oldest woman in the United States to give birth to an in-vitro fertilized baby.

Jonie Mosby Mitchell of Ventura delivered robust 7-pound, 19-inch Morgan Bradford Mitchell about 4 p.m. Tuesday at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles.

In vitro is a process by which an egg and sperm are joined in a laboratory and incubated. The resulting embryo is implanted in a woman’s uterus.

“As far as we know, she is the oldest woman in the United States to have (a baby after) in-vitro fertilization and the third-oldest in the world,” said Sara Kaufman, hospital spokeswoman. A 54-year-old Italian woman is the oldest, Kaufman said.

Mitchell, who has already entered menopause, received a donor egg from a 30-year-old woman and the egg was fertilized by Mitchell’s husband, Donnie.

“It was a real easy delivery,” Mitchell said, adding that her labor pains were eased by a local anesthetic. “In between pushing we were laughing and having a good time. . . . I felt guilty.”

Mitchell had given birth to four children during her first marriage; they range in age from 21 to 32. She and her current husband adopted a child four years ago, but she said she didn’t want to adopt another because adoption officials have too much control over the process.

The in-vitro process “put me in total control,” she said. “It was so easy. I knew I could do it.”

Mitchell said being pregnant in her 50s posed few problems, although some of her close friends were concerned because it “changed the relationship” among them. Most of her peers, along with her family members, were supportive, she said.

Scientists are studying the health risks incurred by pregnant women in their 50s, said endocrinologist Mark Sauer, who implanted the embryo in Mitchell’s uterus at USC. The cost of the implant is about $10,000.

Of 10 women in their 50s who have participated in USC’s in-vitro fertilization program, he said, four have gotten pregnant, including Mitchell. Three delivered successfully. The fourth had a miscarriage.

To sustain her pregnancy, Mitchell received hormone supplements for 100 days, hospital officials said. Mitchell said she is able to nurse the baby but does not plan to do so.

Mitchell’s obstetrician and gynecologist, Kathryn Shaw, said her patient’s history of easy deliveries prepared her for the latest birth. “It went very well,” Shaw said.

Mitchell, a country and Western singer who operates the Ban Dar nightclub in Ventura with her former husband, Jim Shields, said she expects to return to work as soon as she gets back in shape.