Woman Who Gave Birth at Age 72 Reveals What It's Like To Be Mom to Young Child in Old Age
Every baby is a miracle. If you or your spouse has ever had a child, you know that to be true.
At that moment when birth occurs, you understand how little control we have in bringing a little life safely into the world. So much of the gestation and delivery process is out of our control — and that’s just with ordinary infants.
When it comes to high-risk and older mothers, it’s all the more astonishing. One mother from Haryana, India, has shown how hard it is to be an older mother.
According to The Independent, Daljinder Kaur had longed for a child for over four-and-a-half decades. But Kaur and her husband, Mohinder Singh Gill, had never been able to conceive.
For most couples, that would’ve been that. But everything changed for Kaur when she and Gill inherited some land and earned a little extra income.
Not long after, Kaur saw an advertisement for a fertility clinic. “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 explained.
She also told The Times of India, “Everyone asked me to adopt a baby, but I never wanted to. I had faith in Almighty, and knew I will bear my child one day.”
And that was exactly what happened. In 2016, the 72-year-old gave birth to little Arman, a boy who weighed just under four pounds, making her likely the world’s oldest mother.
But though Daljinder considers Arman a blessing, she wouldn’t say that having a baby at her old age has been easy.
“Since he’s been crawling, I’m on my hands and knees, and it’s hard,” she said. “My body can’t take it. It’s been harder than I thought.
“My blood pressure has suffered, and I get tired very easily now. I’ve seen several doctors but they just give me medicines and a diet plan.”
The elderly mother also said she is concerned about how she will take care of her husband, who recently entered his eighth decade, along with a toddler. Yet she still believes God “will take care of everything.”
Indian medical professionals aren’t so sure. According to The Telegraph, many of them are taking aim at Kaur’s IVF doctor.
Commenting on the ethics of impregnating a post-menopausal woman, Dr. Aniruddha Malpani of Mumbai said, “Not a good idea. It’s cowboy medicine.”
But Dr. Anurag Bishnoi, who treated Kaur, said, “They want to prevent women over 50 (from receiving IVF), but on what basis can they do this to their own people? They are not killing anyone, they are giving birth.”
What do you think? Is Kaur’s case a great blessing or a concerning trend?
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