Oldest Woman to Give Birth Delivers Twin Girls at 73 Years Old

Erramatti Mangayamma is making headlines after giving birth to twin girls. The reason? Mangayamma is 73 years old and believed to be the oldest person to ever give birth, CNN reports.

Ever since their wedding in 1962, Mangayamma and 80-year-old husband E. Raja Rao always dreamed of being parents. With no luck conceiving naturally, the couple turned to Indian doctor Sanakayyala Umashankar, the director of Ahalya IVF, for help, according to CNN. After an initial round of tests on Mangayamma proved to be promising, Umashankar agreed to offer the couple one round of IVF. Luckily for them, it worked.

Because of her age, Mangayamma underwent a c-section and she’ll be kept under observation for the next few weeks. “The surgery went well…the mother and the babies are all healthy with no complications,” Umashankar tells CNN.

Though Mangayamma is currently in good health, the BBC reports that her husband suffered a stroke only a day after the birth of his daughters. He’s currently being treated in hospital.

For this couple, having children was an important part of their culture. "They would call me a childless lady,” Mangayamma tells the BBC. “We tried many times and saw numerous doctors, so this is the happiest time of my life.”

The new mama proves first-time motherhood can be a reality even later in life—but a mother’s age can have an affect on pregnancy. Curious how? Here’s a pregnancy guide for moms-to-be of advanced maternal age.