Her husband was 78 years old at the time. The couple had twins – two tiny girls.
At what age is it too late to give birth? The answer for each woman will be different, it all depends on her ovarian reserve. For Erramatti Mangayama, a resident of India, this date came when she was 40 years old. Doctors diagnosed early menopause. The woman received the status of infertile, and her husband was advised to find himself another wife who could give birth to his heirs.
Erramatti got married when she was only 16 years old, and Raja, her husband – 20. Fortunately, for both of them everything went well in this marriage: young people not only got used to each other, but really fell in love. From the very beginning, they tried to conceive, dreamed of children and a large family. But it didn’t work. The girl consulted with different doctors more than once, but no one could help her. Conception never happened. And at 40 years old – infertility.
“I felt like a door had slammed right in front of my face,” Erramatti said at the time.
The unfortunate woman did not find sympathy from anyone except her husband: she was called a “childless lady”, her husband was persistently recommended to find another woman, and both of them were bullied – infertility looked like nonsense for large India, because motherhood is considered sacred there.
The couple learned about the possibility of IVF only in 2018. Erramatti was 73 at the time. It seemed to her a miracle that the doctor gave her a chance to become a mother: the specialist decided that she was in excellent health, despite her advanced age.
“At first she lied to us that she was 65 years old, and she really wanted to undergo IVF in order to have a baby,” said Dr. Umashankar. “We only learned the truth after her husband and family presented her school notes, which indicated that her birthday was September 1, 1946.”
An egg donor was selected for the couple – Erramatti no longer has his own oocytes. And everything worked out the very first time: the pregnancy took root, began to develop, and at the scheduled screening it turned out that the woman was expecting twins. Pregnancy was carried out by ten specialists – yet the situation is far from usual. But there were no complications: no diabetes, no high blood pressure. Erramatti was as healthy as an astronaut. On the due date, September 5, 2019, two girls were born – they were named Uma and Rama.
“The birth went smoothly, without complications,” said then Dr. Umashankar, the doctor who was leading the pregnancy. – Erramatti did a caesarean, two girls weighing about two kilograms were born. This is a medical miracle. “
Young parents, the staff of the hospital where the pregnancy was carried out, and Erramatti’s mother – she is happy to become a grandmother.
They fed the girls from bottles, and later hired a nurse: their mother no longer had milk, and it could not have been. “But no one else will call me childless. Nobody will humiliate us anymore, ”my mother said proudly.
This story made a splash in its time: those who criticized the couple for childlessness now took up arms against them for late childbirth. “You will not live to see the age of majority of children!” – people said instead of congratulations, accusing parents of selfishness. “It would be better if they were adopted! Children are a gift from heaven, and not the fruit of medical manipulations, ”said Mangayama.
But Erramatti was still happy. True, not for long: the day after giving birth, Raja had a heart attack, an 80-year-old man could not bear the excitement. Then everything worked out, but a year later he died.
“I think about him all the time,” admits Erramatti. – He had only 12 months to enjoy his fatherhood, to spend time with his daughters. But he at least experienced this feeling. “
Now a woman is raising children alone. “I found a family friend to take responsibility for the girls when I’m gone,” she adds.