Her husband, who is 80-years-old, and she have been married since 1962 and were not able to have any children until now.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on September 9, 2019. It has since been updated.
Sometimes, things happen which people can't explain and we call them miracles. Recently, a septuagenarian woman gave birth to twins surprising a lot of people across the world. Prior to her, the oldest woman to ever give birth was 66-year-old Maria del Carmen Bousada Lara of Spain, according to Guinness World Records cited by Perthnow.
The 73-year-old woman, Erramatti Mangayamma, from southern India, who gave birth to twin healthy girls, said that motherhood has been the happiest time of her life. The children were delivered through C-section on September 5 in Andhra Pradesh. The doctor, who was in charge of the case, Dr. Sanakayyala Umashankar, the director of Ahalya IVF, who performed the C-section, told the Guardian that the woman and children were in good health. She will be kept under observation for 21 days after birth because of her age.
It is believed that Erramatti is the oldest person ever to give birth, according to CNN. She conceived through IVF. "The surgery went well ... the mother and the babies are all healthy with no complications," Dr. Umashankar told CNN.
The septuagenarian and her husband, 80-year-old E. Raja Rao became parents for the first time since getting married in 1962. They have not been able to conceive naturally until now. The couple approached Dr. Umashankar in 2018 after which preliminary tests were conducted and then the doctor said yes for one round of IVF treatment.
The kids are not being breastfed currently. "We are not allowing the mother to breastfeed and the babies will be fed through the milk bank," Dr. Umashankar told CNN. Erramatti feels "very confident now." She feels "more confident than ever in her life and she is looking forward to the next chapter of her life with the kids," he added.
She told BBC Telugu that she had felt stigmatized in her community because they did not have children. “They would call me a childless lady,” she said, adding, “We tried many times and saw numerous doctors, so this is the happiest time of my life.” She went to the doctor after finding out that a 55-year-old woman in her neighborhood conceived through IVF.
Her lifelong dream of becoming a mother was finally fulfilled. The doctor told the Guardian, "During the treatment we had three groups of doctors: one took care of her general health, one took care of her nutritional status and one to took care of her pregnancy.” All three areas were checked up on every day, he added.
Since the new mother had started menopause 25 years ago, the pregnancy was able to take place because of an egg donor. The egg was fertilized with her husband's sperm through IVF, the doctor told Hindustan Times. “Luckily, she conceived in the first cycle and was found to be pregnant in January," Dr. Umashankar said.
The new father told BBC Telugu: “We are incredibly happy.” When he was asked how they will care for the children, he said, "Nothing is in our hands. Whatever should happen will happen. It is all in the hands of God.”
References:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-49575735
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/06/health/india-woman-73-gives-birth-scli-intl/index.html
