Elderly Couple Yearning For Biological Baby Make Controversial Decision

May 26, 2021

Starting a family and raising happy and healthy children is a dream that many couples realize. For other couples, time, effort and even medical treatments are required in order to conceive and carry a pregnancy to term. Unfortunately, some couples never have children despite their best efforts. Infertility is one of the most challenging things a couple that wants children has to go through, but what happens when even doctors cannot figure out the reason for continued and devastating infertility that leads to multiple miscarriages? 

For one couple, personal challenges and difficulty conceiving resulted in a hopeful woman becoming one of the oldest mothers in the world. Daljinder Kaur from India became one of the world’s oldest mothers when she gave birth to her first child in her seventies back in 2016. The Independent reported that the couple struggled to get pregnant for 46 years before their eventual success in conceiving a baby. 

Normally, a healthy woman can naturally conceive even into her 50s according to Healthline. However, there are virtually no reported cases of women conceiving after the age of 60 years old. Most doctors can help women over the age of 50 to get pregnant through methods such as IVF, but after a certain age, women are deterred from having kids.

Though Kaur was 72 years old when she conceived, the doctor who helped her believed that she was fit enough to have a baby after medical tests came back. Kaur gave birth to her son in 2016, and she and her husband, Mohinder Singh Gill, has been facing the challenges that come with raising a baby. 

According to Daily Mail, Daljinder Kaur had hoped to have a child and raise a family for all of her adult life. Unfortunately, fertility issues and a long-lasting family feud prevented her from becoming pregnant. Moreover, Kaur and Gill did not have the money for specialized fertility treatments. As is the case for many women who have trouble conceiving, Daljinder felt empty and lonely for many years. As she and her husband approached 50 years of marriage without bearing children, she gave of hope of becoming pregnant.

In September 2014, the couple decided to try once again to conceive a child and they sought medical assistance through in vitro fertilization or IVF after Kaur inherited some money according to the Independent. "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 said.

Because of her advanced age, she initially had trouble finding a doctor who would provide fertility treatment, but she was eventually successful. Anurag Bishnoi, embryologist and owner of the National Fertility and Test Tube Baby centre in Hisar, where the couple were treated said he was initially hesitant to treat Kaur. "I first tried to avoid the case because she was very weak. But then her medical reports were normal and she was fit to conceive," he told the news outlet.  

It took three rounds of IVF treatments spread over two years before Daljinder and her husband received the good news. They were finally expecting a baby.

In 2016, Daljinder gave birth to a healthy baby boy, whom the couple named Armaan. Surprisingly, her pregnancy progressed without complications and she was able to enjoy natural childbirth. Despite her advanced age, she also successfully breastfed her infant for several months. At the time of her son’s birth, Daljinder was 72 years old, according to BBC. This made her one of the oldest new mothers in the world.

When interviewed a year after giving birth to her son, Daljinder honestly told reporters the same thing that many other new mothers have said over the years. She said that motherhood was more difficult than she and her husband had anticipated. However, like many mothers, she said she would do it all over again and is thankful that her dream of becoming a mother came true.

A year after her son Armaan was born, Daljinder told the Independent that her health had deteriorated since giving birth. She said, "Since he’s been crawling I’m on my hands and knees and it’s hard. 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." However, the joy of having a child was worth it for her. 

"No matter where I am he’ll come crawling to me," she added. "I love him. He is a friendly child and smiles at everyone." Her husband also added that despite their advanced age, he is not worried as he has put his trust in God. "People say, what will happen to the child once we die. But I have full faith in God. God is omnipotent and omnipresent, he will take care of everything," Gill said.  

What did you think about Daljinders story? Would you raise a baby at the ripe age of 72 too? Do you know of any similar stories? Let us know - and make sure to pass this story of a miracle along to your friends and family!