Woman, 53, Gives Birth to Twin Girls : Medicine: She carried donated eggs fertilized in vitro by her husband’s sperm. Babies listed as stable but guarded.

A 53-year-old grandmother gave birth Tuesday to twin girls, the result of donated eggs fertilized by her 32-year-old husband’s sperm, hospital officials said.

The tiny test-tube babies, born about 12 weeks premature, were in stable but guarded condition at Martin Luther Hospital, said spokesman Dennis Gaschen.

Mary Shearing, their mother, was in good condition, he said. She had been hospitalized for two weeks because of a ruptured membrane or “water bag,” Gaschen said.

The first baby, Amy Leigh, was delivered vaginally at 9:06 a.m. The 14-inch-long girl weighed in at 2 pounds, 2 ounces.

Her sister, Kelly Ann, was in a breech, or feet-first, position and was delivered by Cesarean section. Kelly Ann measured 16 inches and weighed 2 pounds, 12 1/2 ounces, Gaschen said.

Gaschen said babies delivered after 24 weeks of gestation are considered viable and have some chance of surviving.

The Shearing twins “are 28 weeks--nearly a month older,” he said.

Their due date was Feb. 5, 1993. But doctors had said they expected a delivery in December because of the mother’s age and anticipated complications with multiple births.

Gaschen said he believed that previously the oldest post-menopausal woman in the United States to deliver babies through the in-vitro process was 52.

The couple went public with their story in October, telling a news conference they wanted to encourage older women who might be considering pregnancy.

“The age consideration, while it’s important, is not something you run your life by,” said Shearing.

Shearing, who has three children and two grandchildren from a previous marriage, was going through menopause when she became pregnant. She had miscarried a non-test tube pregnancy four years ago.

The twins were conceived using sperm from her husband of seven years, Don, and eggs donated by a woman in her 20s.

Shearing underwent implantation of the embryos on May 15 at Martin Luther Hospital.

Four embryos were transferred; two survived. Hormones were used in the first trimester to sustain the pregnancy, but medication was discontinued after the embryos were established.

Dr. David Diaz, medical director of the hospital’s reproductive medicine program, said Shearing’s good health and physical fitness helped her chances of a successful childbirth.

A former amateur bodybuilder, Shearing described herself as fit and active.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. last month said older women’s wombs are able to sustain pregnancy if donated eggs are used.

The study suggested that infertility problems in older women were principally due to their eggs, not their wombs.