Agarwaltimes - Woman at the age of 61 gives birth to daughters daughter (Granddaughter)

Losing the ability to bear children at just 21 was a blow Lakshmi (name changed) was struggling to come to terms with. Last year, a complication during pregnancy termed Placental Abruption had led to her first child being stillborn and the subsequent removal of her uterus.

When Lakshmi's attempts at thirdparty surrogacy too failed, doctors at the Akash Fertility Centre and Hospital came up with a suggestion that had only one precedent in the country - making her mother Rajeshwari (name changed), then 60 and well past menopause, the surrogate mother of her child.

After several rounds of counselling by Drs Jeyarani Kamaraj and T Kamaraj, Lakshmi and Rajeshwari agreed to give it a try.

Rajeshwari, 61, with the newborn

Implanting the foetus in Rajeshwari's womb presented several challenges. First, doctors restored her menstrual cycle. Then, the foetus was developed using Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI). For the delivery, she was admitted in ICU where she delivered a healthy girl child in November last year, weighing 2.7 kg at birth.

Rajeshwari, who breast-fed the infant for four months, would have no genetic link to the child. Dr Jeyarani said this was the second such reported case in India, the other being a UK couple who took a similar route a few years back at Anand in Gujarat, where the woman delivered twins.

Jeyarani said surrogate motherhood was the only option for women who can't conceive naturally or suffer miscarriages as well as in cases of premature births. "A mother coming forward to act as a surrogate for her daughter's child is indeed a significant achievement. It will go a long way in offering solutions to issueless couples and those having fertility problems, besides being cost-effective given that third-party surrogacy is expense," she added.

Agarwaltimes