A 70-year-old Indian woman has given birth to her first child with her 79-year-old. Daljinder Kaur and husband Mohinder Singh Gill have been married for 46 years, but were never able to conceive naturally, believing that they had been 'cursed by God'. Last month, thanks to IVF treatment, Mrs Kaur gave birth to their son Armaan, making her the world's oldest first-time mother.
Hitting out at critics, Mrs Kaur said she was not too old to become a first-time mother with husband, Mohinder Singh Gill, adding they were not worried about the future as 'God will take care of everything'.
Mrs Kaur underwent two years of IVF treatment at a fertility clinic in the northern state of Haryana, India before falling pregnant.
He is now 'healthy and hearty' after weighing just 4.4lb when he was born on April 19, said a statement released by the clinic, the National Fertility and Test Tube centre.
Mrs Kaur said the couple, who have been married for 46 years, had almost lost hope of ever having a child.
She claims they had even faced ridicule in a country where infertility is sometimes seen as a curse from God.
She said: 'God heard our prayers. My life feels complete now. I am looking after the baby all by myself, I feel so full of energy. My husband is also very caring and helps me as much as he can.
'When we saw the (IVF) advert, we thought we should also give it a try as I badly wanted to have a baby of my own,' she said.
After two failed cycles of IVF, she finally conceived in July last year.
She estimates she is 70-years-old - a common scenario in India where many people do not have birth certificates. However in a statement, the clinic said she is 72.
Her husband, who owns a farm outside Amritsar, said he was unfazed about their age, saying God would watch over their child.
'People say what will happen to the child once we die. But I have full faith in God. God is omnipotent and omnipresent, he will take care of everything.'
Dr Anurag Bishnoi, who runs the fertility clinic, said he was initially skeptical about going ahead with in vitro fertilization (IVF), but tests showed Mrs Kaur was able to carry the unborn baby.
'I first tried to avoid the case because she looked very frail. Then we made her undergo all the tests and once all the results were okay we went ahead,' the doctor told AFP.
This is the second case at the centre where a woman in her seventies has delivered successfully following IVF.
In 2006, 70-year-old Rajo Devi gave birth to a baby girl from the same centre, making her the world's oldest mother at the time.
Source: AFP
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