Rajo Devi, who hit world headlines and old enough to be even a great grand-mother, had delivered a healthy baby girl after an in vitro fertility treatment.
In vitro fertilization (IVF) is the joining of a woman’s egg and a man’s sperm in a laboratory, a process that biologically takes place inside a woman’s body. Rajo Devi and husband Bala Ram (73) married when they were teens. But to be parents, they had to wait for 55 years. Now, she says she does not mind having a second child.
“We both at this age are coping well with our child without any trouble. Since, we have a large joint family, other members are also helping us. We wanted a child all these years and now we are very happy to have one in the twilight years of our life,” a beaming Rajo Devi said.
“We are happy to have a girl child and plan to do ‘Jalwa’ (1st birthday function) tomorrow in our village Alewa, a ceremony held only for a male child in Haryana,” she added.
She said they were trying to have a child since their marriage, when she was 15 years and her husband was 17.
The couple got help from Dr M R Bishnoi and Dr Anurag Bishnoi at National Fertility Centre, Hissar, which helped them in realising their dream to have a child.
The doctors said that Rajo was the oldest mother to give birth. For Bala Ram, it was third time lucky, having failed to become a father in two earlier marriages. It was not clear whose egg and sperm were used in the successful treatment.
“For decades we’ve had to put up with gossip because we’ve remained childless, but those sad days are now over,” Rajo said hours after giving birth.
Desperate for a child to put an end to the social stigma, the couple approached the Hissar fertility centre in Haryana.
They were told that for Rajo to become pregnant was a high risk—for both her and any child developing in the womb—but after numerous tests the doctors believed she would be able to stand up to the physical strain of pregnancy and child-birth.
To everyone’s delight, Rajo was told the good news after her in-vitro treatment.
Another 70-year-old Indian was reported to have given birth to twins after IVF treatment in July last year, while in Spain a 66-year-old Spanish woman gave birth to twins in 2006.
After Rajo became mother, Dr Anurag Bishnoi said he did not envisage any future problems for the new-born, except, in the parents’ case, “old age.”
