A couple of septuagenarians from India’s Rajasthan state recently welcomed their first baby after 54 years of marriage, which makes them one of the oldest couples in history to ever have a baby.

75-year-old Gopichand and his 70-year-old wife Chandravati, had long been trying to have a baby, but their dream never came true. For years they visited countless hospitals and clinics, undergoing various treatments and procedures, but nothing worked. About a year and a half ago, the husband approached an in-vitro fertility clinic in Alwar about the possibility of his wife finally becoming pregnant. The woman’s advanced age was a concern, but there had been previous success stories, like that of Jivuben Valabhai Rabari, another 70-year-old woman from rural Gujarat, who last year made news headlines when she delivered a healthy baby. After two failed IVF procedures,  Chandravati finally became pregnant, and recently welcomed a healthy baby boy.

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“Chandrawati was able to conceive nine months ago in the third attempt through IVF. While there was happiness, there was an element of fear also due to the advanced age of the mother. But finally, on Monday, she delivered a healthy baby,”  IVF expert Dr Pankaj Gupta said.

The proud father, a former soldier shot in the leg during the Bangladesh war, couldn’t contain the joy of holding his son for the first time. He told reporters that he was happy to be able to pass on his family’s name, as he was his father’s only son. They had been trying to have a baby since 1968…

“There are only a few cases of children being born at this age across the country,” Dr. Gupta said. “This is probably the first case of Rajasthan when a 75-year-old man and 70-year-old woman have got a child.”

Interestingly, Gopichand and Chandravati Devi may be the last Indian septuagenarians to become parents through IVF, as a new law that went into effect in July of this year forbids IVF infertility centers to provide treatment to women and men above the age of 50. They were lucky to have already conceived the baby before the law came into effect.

The oldest woman to ever give birth was also from India – in 2019, 74-year-old Mangayamma delivered healthy twin girls following an IVF procedure.