Old woman gives birth to triplets at the age of 66

After nearly 44 years of a unhappy childless married life, a 66-year-old woman in Haryana has given birth to triplets, becoming possibly the oldest woman to do so.

Bhateri Devi gave birth to the triplets - two boys and a girl - on May 29 at National Fertility Centre in Hisar through In-vitro Fertilisation (IVF) technique, officials said on Sunday, adding that she was possibly the oldest known mother in the world to give birth to triplets.

"According to the birth certificate issued by a government hospital in Rohtak district, Bhateri Devi was born on May 21, 1944 in Madina village of Rohtak. This birth proof is authentic and therefore she has become the oldest mother in the world to give birth to triplets so far," Anurag Bishnoi, who supervised the whole process, told reporters.

"Bhateri Devi was coming to us for the last many months for the treatment. She has become mother for the first time and conceived only in our third attempt through IVF technique," he said.

"For the first two attempts, only two embryos were transferred in each cycle. But in third attempt three embryos were transferred in her uterus, resulting in the birth of three children by a caesarean process."

However, the doctors said that triplets, weighing 1.2 kilogram, 1.1 kilogram and 800 grams, were underweight and they were kept in the intensive care unit of the centre.

Bhateri Devi is a resident of Satrod village in this district, some 300 km from Chandigarh.

Her husband Deva Singh, 64, is also very excited on becoming father at this age.

"Bhateri has fulfilled my dream of having a child and gave my family an heir. She was my first wife and after she failed to conceive a child, I married twice but again I did not have any child from my other wives also," he said.

"I am very happy and I would provide all the best facilities to my children in the coming years," he added.

In November 2008, 70-year-old Rajo Devi, a resident of a village in Jind district in Haryana, made headlines after she gave birth to a girl child through IVF technique at the same centre.

She had conceived a child after a long hiatus of over 54 years. Both mother and child are in good health at present.