Staff writer
GDCS
IVF, the medically assisted procedure to achieve pregnancy, has really come as a boon for older women wanting to give birth.
The oldest woman to have used IVF to become the mother of twins is, in fact, a 74-year-old Indian by the name Erramatti Mangayamma.
“If we are talking of technical possibilities in IVF, then yes, women in their 60s and 70s can also bear children. But it is an ethical minefield, given that such late pregnancies are fraught with dangers”, says Dr Mangala Devi, the chief gynaecologist at Smile Baby IVF clinic in Bengaluru.
Right up to their 50s, however, IVF induced pregnancies are a fair game. Several women have taken advantage of it too. At the Smile Baby clinic itself, women well-above 40, have successfully availed IVF. “In fact, they are the ones who have made most of the IVF promise,” says Dr Mangala.
At 35, most women begin to lose their capacity to produce eggs. By 50, they are almost menopausal. Soon they would have no more the eggs needed to conceive. Technically, they may still be fertile — a condition in which their reproductive organs are functional — but in the absence of the eggs, they would be unable to conceive naturally.
The IVF procedure entails implanting a donor egg in the womb. It is a well-documented procedure that can be executed like clockwork, the doctor explains. The trouble in older women is, however, that they are well past their prime; their bodies are much weakened, and they no longer are at their functional best.
That said, at the hands of a skilled and experienced doctor, women past their 40 have also generally done well with IVF.
What begs the question, however, is why would a woman wish for motherhood in her late years, when she had herself chosen to run from it during her reproductive best years. It turns out that it isn’t that simple a case. Dr. Mangala, who sees hundred of women every year at her hospital, says many women have complicated lives.
Some of them are trying to consummate a late remarriage. Some are dealing with gynaecological problems carried forward from their youth. Still others are trying to recompense for the time spent at work while the motherhood years slipped from them.
Smile Baby IVF
Hennur Main Road, Below Fly over
Lingarajapuram,
Bangalore-560084,
Karnataka, India
Mob: 8884752134, 9686382856
Smile Baby IVF
Shishuka Childrens Speciality Hospital
(A Unit of Shishuka Health Care Pvt. Ltd) #938,
Ring Road Service Road,
Kalyan Nagar,
HRBR Layout Bangalore- 560043
Mob: 8884752134, +918088376374, +918660821311
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