TORONTO: A 60-year-old Sikh
woman has become the oldest mother in Canada by giving
birth to twin boys in Calgary city this week.
Ranjit Hayer and her husband Jagir Hayer, who have
been trying to have a baby for the past 40 years,
finally became proud parents of the twins delivered
Tuesday in a city hospital.
After being rejected by Canadian
doctors
for in-vitro fertilization because of her old age, the
woman had reportedly travelled to her native India get
fertilized with a donated egg.
Delivered seven weeks premature by caesarian section,
the two boys - Manjot and Gurpreet - are in neo-natal
intensive care and doing well, reports quoted doctors
as saying.
The mother was also recovering in intensive care, the
doctors added.
"My wife is very good. I am very happy. God has given
me boys, later in life. I want to throw a big party,''
said a beaming Jagir Hayer told a local newspaper.
As old-age
pregnancies
can lead to complications and even death, Canadian
fertility clinics refuse to give in-vitro
fertilization treatment to women over 50.
Though Ranjit Hayer reportedly also went through
complications during the pregnancy, her extended
Indian family welcomed the birth of twins with much
fanfare.
The newspaper quoted Ranjit Hayer's younger sister,
Daljit, as saying, "We always prayed for them to have
children. It's a very special moment.
"In Indian culture, children are a blessing. It's
very, very uncommon for a married
couple
to not have children.''
Interestingly, the oldest woman in the world to become
mother is also an Indian. Seventy-year-old Omkari
Panwar gave birth to twins in Muzaffarnagar last July.
