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is a moving real-life account of one woman's struggle
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Latest Surrogacy News
Mother lends womb to daughter
Prashant
Rupera
Times News Network
January 7, 2004
ANAND: At first glance, Asha Patel is
like any other woman waiting to deliver a baby. But what
makes this 43-year-old different from other expectant
mothers is the fact that she will not be delivering her
child when she goes into labour — she will be delivering her
grandchild.
When doctors in the UK said that her
daughter, Rekha, could not bear a child, Asha volunteered to
be a
surrogate mother to bring a smile back to her daughter’s
face.
But taking the decision was not easy,
admit Asha and her husband Prakash. They feared that the
step may “jeopardise the chances of their two other
daughters getting married”.
“My daughter’s in-laws are progressive
but we were not sure about the kind of reaction we would get
from society. It’s a fear we are still living with, but our
daughter’s happiness will help us overcome this,” says Asha,
as she goes about her household chores and the
prescribed exercises .
“Rekha has normal
ovaries but she does not have a uterus. This led doctors in
London, where she lives with her husband, to go for in
vitro fertilisation (IVF). Though there was lot of
support from her in-laws, the cost of doing it in the UK —
approximately £10,000 — was prohibitive and finding a proper
surrogate was tough,” said Prakash.
These difficulties
and her daughter’s unhappiness led Asha and Prakash to take
the step. “She took a month to make up her mind,” said
Prakash, who provided strong support for Asha. “Normally,
the ovary produces only one egg in a month. But, for an IVF,
we need multiple eggs. We prepared Asha’s uterus for
pregnancy with hormones like oestrogen and progesterone.
At the same time, her daughter took injections to yield more
eggs. After health tests, we tried
the first cycle of IVF in May and it failed. In June, the
second cycle was tried and out of five
embryos transferred into Asha’s uterus, two developed.
She is expecting
twins in the second week of February,” says Nayna Patel,
Asha’s gynaecologist. “It was not just the physical
treatment. The patient’s mental state had to be kept in mind
too, as it was a tough decision. We have got the initial
inhibitions out of Asha’s mind and, of course, her
daughter’s happiness has been a great motivating factor.
Rekha’s in-laws, too, have provided tremendous support,”
says Patel.
The babies will have
to undergo
DNA tests to confirm their genetic parents in order to
obtain British citizenship. “We are carrying out the legal
procedures,” says Prakash.
Asha, meanwhile, is
waiting to hear her grandchildren gurgle and her daughter
laugh.
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