At 56, N.Y. woman gives birth to twins

The babies were given a clean bill of health from the hospital staff.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
NEW YORK -- America's oldest new mom of twins cradled her long-awaited babes in her arms Tuesday morning, gazed at their downy heads and pink faces and burst into tears of joy.
"Aren't they beautiful?" Aleta St. James, soon to turn 57, cooed at newborn daughter Francesca and son Gian, as friends and family looked on.
"Can you believe that they were inside me? They're beautiful, they're perfect."
It was a day of triumph, relief and exhaustion for the single, first-time mom, who has captured the country's attention.
Despite a few pangs of fear as the Manhattan woman was wheeled into the Mount Sinai Hospital operating room Tuesday at 9 a.m., St. James was calm throughout her C-section.
She even joked and chatted with doctors as they worked.
"She was awake the whole time, we were all talking," said longtime friend Art Cohan, 50, who flew in from California for the history-making event.
Their arrival
And at 9:19 a.m., out came little Francesca St. James, weighing in at a healthy 5 pounds, 12 ounces.
Gian came after, a slightly smaller but no less robust 5 pounds, 2 ounces.
Both arrived with a head full of black fuzz and an intense gaze, family members said.
"They looked into my eyes and it was like they knew me," a tired but radiant St. James told family and friends who gathered by her bedside Tuesday.
"Oh, look! Those little eyes -- that's my girl," she added as she breast-fed Francesca in her private maternity ward room overlooking Central Park.
Family and friends took turns holding the tiny twins, who were easy to tell apart despite being swaddled in identical pink and blue striped blankets and matching miniature caps, they said.
"[Gian's] the rambunctious one," said proud granddad Chester Sliwa, 83.
Grandma Francesca Sliwa, 80, smiled peacefully as she let her tuckered-out little namesake snooze on her lap.
Staying close by
St. James also kept her best friends at her side throughout the day, including Rita Cristman, 44, who flew in from California to be present at the birth.
Tuesday, Cristman helped coach St. James on everything from holding the baby to breast-feeding techniques, she said.
"Don't worry, they won't smother," reassured Cristman, a doula who has helped deliver countless babies.
The tots got a thorough checkup by the hospital staff, who gave them a clean bill of health, family said.
St. James, a motivational speaker and the eldest sister of Guardian Angels leader and radio host Curtis Sliwa, endured three years and $25,000 worth of in-vitro fertilization treatments leading to Tuesday's births. She turns 57 on Friday.
As she prepared to share her children with the world at her news conference today, St. James told her family that the experience has surpassed all expectations.
"It's just a different experience when you're bonding with the children outside the womb. You see their personalities. They're so good," she said. "It was way worth it."