Although entirely ecstatic, I was totally shocked when singer Janet Jackson announced that she was pregnant at 50.
But Daljinder Kaur from Amritsar, Punjab in northern India has Janet beat by twenty-two years!
Kaur made worldwide headlines by having her first baby at aged 72.
Unsurprisingly she has admitted that her health has suffered since she gave birth.
The now 73-year-old delivered her baby boy on April 19th last year.
But since his birth she has suffered with high blood pressure and weakened joints.
Her son Armaan is now crawling.
As you can imagine it is slightly difficult for the elderly mother to keep up. She even had to stop breastfeeding her son at three months.
Kaur said: ‘My blood pressure has suffered and I get tired very easily now. I’ve seen several doctors but they just give me medicines and a diet plan.’
‘I’m worried for Armaan. I have to take care of my health but I have to care of Armaan too.’
‘Since he’s been crawling I’m on my hands and knees and it’s hard. My body can’t take it. It’s been harder than I thought,’ Daljinder says.
After 46 years of marriage Daljinder and her 80-year-old husband Mohinder Singh Gill could not conceive her a child.
Despite their ages, they agreed to try IVF treatment. Dr Anurag Bishnoi who runs the National Fertility Centre, in Hisar, India, decided to help the couple.
Armaan Singh, who is now one, weighed just 3lbs 9oz at the time of birth and is still only weighs 15lbs.
‘He’s still underweight,’ she said. ‘He’s quite thin and even diapers of his age don’t fit him.
‘He could possibly be thin because I didn’t feed him properly. I stopped breastfeeding him at three months as my milk wasn’t developing well.’
‘We’ve asked doctors if there’s any medicine we can give him to increase his weight but they said let him gain weight naturally.’
Daljinder admits that her age has made motherhood especially difficult.
She revealed: ‘I feel exhausted easily and the only time I get to rest is when he falls asleep.’
‘My husband and I fall ill frequently due to our age but we have to cope as we have to take care of our son.’
‘I do most of the work but his father contributes in whatever way he can. So, we collectively have taken the responsibility of raising our child in whatever way we can.’
But despite the challenges Daljinder has no regrets about having a child so late in life.
‘No matter where I am,’ she said, ‘he’ll come crawling to me. I love him. He is a friendly child and smiles at everyone.’
‘This makes things very easy for me because I can be at ease when someone is around. I spend all day with him. We decided not to get any help. He loves his father a lot.’
‘He’s always in his arms if I’m busy cooking or doing house work.’
When Armaan turned one Daljinder and Mohinder took him to the Golden Temple, in Amritsar, to seek blessings from God.
She said: ‘We did not want a party. He is a blessing from God so we’ll continue to respect that. We need as many good blessings as possible for our good health.’
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