61-year-old Gives Birth To Granddaughter

One grandmother recently became a really 'grand' mother after she carried and delivered her daughter's baby.

Recently, after an abortion and a failed pregnancy through a surrogate mother, 27-year-old Seethalakshmi was desperately looking for help. It was her 61-year-old mother who agreed to carry her grandchild in her womb.

In November last year, the 61-year-old gave birth through a Caesarean process to a girl who weighed 2.7 kilograms, according to timesofindia.com.

The Akash Fertility Centre and Hospital in Chennai has decided to honour both mother and daughter on March 8, International Women's Day.

It started in 2013, when Seethalakshmi along with her husband had made a visit. "We removed the uterus from the Chennai-based woman, after she gave birth to her first child which was born dead due to placental abruption, a complication of pregnancy, wherein the placental lining gets separated from the uterus of the mother," said Dr Jeyarani Kamaraj of Akash Fertility Centre.

As the 21-year-old bled profusely, doctors had to remove her uterus to save her life, the doctor explained.

Two years after she lost her baby, Seethalakshmi and her husband, who were both IT professionals, approached a fertility clinic, looking for a surrogate mother. The procedure, however, failed in the surrogate mother. "By the time the couple came to us, they were distraught. They had spent Rs 8 lakh for the previous surrogate mother. We suggested looking for someone within the family," said Dr Kamaraj. Without a moment's pause, her mother, who had accompanied the couple, volunteered to carry her grandchild.

The woman, who had attained menopause, was put on hormonal treatment for 2 months to restore her menstrual cycle. In the fourth month, the embryo was implanted in her uterus. Nine months later, she gave birth to a girl and even breast-fed her granddaughter for about four months.

Dr Jeyarani said this was the second such reported case in India. The first one was in Britain, where a couple adopted the method in Anand in Gujarat, after which the woman delivered twins, according to deccanherald.