73-year-old Indian woman gives birth to twin girls

ANDHRA PRADESH - In what appears to be a rare happening, a 73-year-old woman in India gave birth to twin girls, becoming the oldest woman on planet to be a mother. Erramatti Mangayamma, a farmer from the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, is believed to be the oldest person ever to give birth. She became pregnant through IVF and doctors delivered the babies via caesarian section Thursday. "The surgery went well ... the mother and the baby girls are all healthy with no complications," Dr. Sanakayyala Umashankar, the director of Ahalya IVF, who performed the C-section, told CNN. Mangayamma and her husband, 80-year-old E. Raja Rao, have been married since 1962 but had never been able to conceive naturally. They approached Umashankar in 2018 and, after preliminary tests were promising, the doctor agreed to give them one round of IVF treatment. Given Mangayamma's age, the doctors performed a C-section and will keep her under observation for the next 21 days. "We are not allowing the mother to breastfeed and the babies will be fed through the milk bank," Umashankar said. Rao, 80, has already begun making plans for his daughter, said Umashankar. And for Mangayamma, it is a new lease of life at the age of 73, he said. "She is very confident now. More confident than ever in her life and she is looking forward to the next chapter of her life with the kids," Umashankar added. SOURCE: CNN INTERNATIONAL