BEIJING - A 60-YEAR-OLD retiree has become the oldest woman in
China to give birth, bearing twins after becoming pregnant via
in-vitro fertilisation, state media reported on Thursday.
The woman, whose real name was not given, gave birth to the two
baby girls prematurely on Tuesday in Hefei, capital of the eastern
province of Anhui, the official China Daily said.
The births came 34 weeks after she became impregnated to ease
the pain caused by the death of her 28-year-old daughter, Tingting,
who died in a 'gas poisoning' incident early last year, it said.
'Their cry resembles my late daughter,' she was quoted as saying
after the birth were born via Caesarean section.
'The girls give me and my husband the courage to live on.
Despite the fact that we are old, we have the confidence to bring
them up.' After Tingting's death, friends and relatives urged the
woman to have another baby and she decided to try in-vitro
fertilisation.
Her husband was initially against the idea but finally agreed,
reluctantly, the report said. They travelled to Beijing last May to
meet gynaecology experts, most of whom thought her chances of
becoming pregnant were extremely slim.
When she returned to Hefei, she started taking daily medication
and injections, and became pregnant after an in-vitro fertilisation
procedure last October. The two girls were in stable condition in
incubators, the report said.
-- AFP
