The Hindu : Kerala News : 62-year-old woman gives birth to baby boy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 05, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

62-year-old woman gives birth to baby boy

By Our Staff Reporter

Bhavani Amma with her baby at a private infertility clinic in Thiruvananthapuram.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MAY 4. Bhavani Amma, a 62-year-old woman past her menopause, has given birth to a male child through in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and embryo transfer (ET) method in a private infertility clinic (Samad IVF Hospital) in the city. The mother and the baby are healthy and doing well, doctors have said.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Sathy M. Pillai, who along with a team of doctors treated the woman, claimed that this was the first time in the State that a woman as old as Ms. Bhavani has successfully given birth to a baby. Ms. Bhavani could perhaps be the third oldest woman in the world to give birth to a child, Dr. Pillai said.

The baby, born on April 12 through a Caesarean section, weighs 1.35 kg and has been kept in the incubator.

He had to be taken out at 34 weeks of gestation as the mother developed complications like gestational diabetes and hypertension. Though the infant's birth weight is low, he is healthy, has no disabilities and has good reflexes, the doctors said.

Speaking to presspersons, a beaming Bhavani said that having her own baby in her arms for the first time was a cherished moment in her life. It was an intense desire to be a mother that prompted her to go through IVF procedure despite her age, she said.

Ms. Bhavani, a retired school teacher from Muvattupuzha, approached Dr. Sathy Pillai after reading a news item about a 56-year-old woman who had given birth through Assisted Reproductive Technique (ART) two years ago. She had undergone infertility treatment earlier for several years but with no success.

For the past two years, she had been undergoing specialised infertility treatment at the clinic at Pattoor in the city. As she was past menopause, she had to undergo hormone replacement treatment to make her uterus receptive for pregnancy.

A combination of IVF and embryo donation techniques was used to help the woman conceive. The sperm was taken from the sperm bank at the clinic, while for the ovum, an advertisement was placed seeking donors. The cost of the procedure was a little over Rs. 1 lakh, Dr. Pillai said.

The process involved fertilising the donor ovum with the sperm in a laboratory dish, and then transferring the embryo into the appropriately readied uterus of the woman. Pregnancy test was done 12 days after implanting the embryo in the uterus and the procedure was successful in the case of Ms. Bhavani, in the first attempt itself.

The woman had been under special medical care after she developed problems like diabetes and hypertension during pregnancy.

Ms. Bhavani was put through extensive psychological, legal and medical counselling before preparing her for the procedure. All the guidelines for using ART, issued by the Indian Council for Medical Research, have been strictly followed, doctors said.

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