Sikh woman at 60 becomes Canada's oldest mother

Toronto: A 60-year-old Sikh woman has become the oldest mother in Canada by giving birth to twin boys in Calgary city this week.

Ranjit Hayer and her husband Jagir Hayer, who have been trying to have a baby for the past 40 years, finally became proud parents of the twins delivered on Tuesday in a city hospital.

After being rejected by Canadian doctors for in-vitro fertilization because of her old age, the woman had reportedly travelled to her native India to get fertilized with a donated egg.

Delivered seven weeks premature by caesarian section, the two boys - Manjot and Gurpreet - are in neo-natal intensive care and doing well, reports quoted doctors as saying.

The mother was also recovering in intensive care, the doctors added.

"My wife is very good. I am very happy. God has given me boys, later in life. I want to throw a big party," a beaming Jagir Hayer told a local newspaper.

As old-age pregnancies can lead to complications and even death, Canadian fertility clinics refuse to give in-vitro fertilization treatment to women over 50.

Though Ranjit Hayer reportedly also went through complications during the pregnancy, her extended Indian family welcomed the birth of twins with much fanfare.

The newspaper quoted Ranjit Hayer's younger sister, Daljit, as saying, ``We always prayed for them to have children. It's a very special moment.

``In Indian culture, children are a blessing. It's very, very uncommon for a married couple to not have children.''

Interestingly, the oldest woman in the world to become mother is also an Indian. Seventy-year-old Omkari Panwar gave birth to twins in Muzaffarnagar last July.