An Indian woman who is believed to be about 72-year-old has given birth to a baby boy after undergoing IVF treatment, it has been reported.
The woman, Daljinder Kaur, celebrated the birth of her son together with her as this was the first successful pregnancy in 46 years of their marriage.
She underwent treatment in the past two years using donor eggs at a fertility clinic in the northern state of Haryana, according to Guardian newspaper.
Kaur is considered to be one of the oldest mothers to give birth with Anurag Bishnoi, embryologist and owner of the National Fertility and Test Tube Baby centre in Hisar, saying he believed she could be 72.
Dr. Bishnoi further added “She has said she is five to seven years younger than her husband, and his birth certificate shows he was born on 12/04/1937.”
The mother said she and her husband, Mohinder Singh Gill, a farmer, had almost lost hope of having their own child and had faced ridicule in a country where infertility is sometimes seen as a curse from God.
“God heard our prayers. My life feels complete now,” she told Agence France-Presse from the northern city of Amritsar. “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.”
Their son, born “healthy and hearty” and weighing 4.4lb (2kg), has been named Arman.
“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,” Kaur added.
Kaur and Gill had suffered several setbacks in their quest for parenthood and had previously been unable to afford the treatment. After trying unsuccessfully to conceive, they adopted a boy in the 1980s, but he went to study in the US and never returned.
