Guntur: Perhaps for the first time in the world, a 74-year-old woman from a village in East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh became a mother and gave birth to twin girls. The woman and her husband waited for 57 years to opt for in vitro fertilisation (IVF). A team of four doctors performed a caesarean section on her, after which the twins were born.
Yaramati Sitarama Rajarao, a farmer from Nelaparthipudi village, had married Mangayamma in 1962. Mangayamma was not able to conceive despite consulting several doctors. Mangayamma says not bearing a child had been a heavy burden that she carried all these years. “People looked at me with accusing eyes as if I had committed a sin,” she said.
“We are the happiest couple on earth today. We have our own children,” said an ecstatic Rajarao who is confident that they will be able to bring up the girls well. In fact, the couple had given up on becoming parents until they consulted IVF expert Dr Sanakkayala Umasankar in Guntur about a year ago. Dr Umasankar constituted a medical board of cardiologists, gynaecologists and paediatricians before deciding on treatment.
The doctors convinced the couple to take the IVF route since Mangayamma had crossed the menopausal stage. However, Umasankar refused to divulge the details. Mangayamma conceived in the very first cycle of the IVF procedure. She was admitted to the hospital in January and stayed under the observation of the medical team. The 74-year-old’s sound physical health also made the job of the doctors easier. She was also subjected to several rounds of psychological counselling to ensure she remained mentally strong throughout the procedure.
“Both the mother and babies are doing fine. Ten doctors worked for nine months to keep a close watch on her health. This is a medical miracle,” Dr Umasankar said after the operation.
