Mumbai: Thirty years after she made history, Mumbai's first test-tube baby, Harsha Chavda-Shah, delivered a child of her own on Monday.
The baby boy was delivered using Cesarean-section by the same team of doctors who had helped Harsha's parents conceive her using in vitro fertilisation techniques in 1986.
Harsha and her accountant husband Divyapal Shah told TOI that the baby, born on the auspicious day of Shivratri, was a gift from God. "I am God's gift and I believe my baby is also special," said the mother in a feeble voice, still recovering from the surgery at Jaslok Hospital. "My baby is a blessing for me and there are no words to explain what I feel at this moment," she said.
Unlike her parents, Harsha and Shah were able to conceive naturally and did not need any artificial assistance. The jubilant couple said they had not had time to name the child.
Harsha delivers a healthy baby
Harsha and Divyapal Shah, married in 2015, spent a few anxious months after finding out about the pregnancy. "She resigned from her job as we did not want any work stress to come in the way of her pregnancy," he said.
Infertility specialist Dr Indira Hinduja, credited then for bringing the country's first test tube baby Harsha in 1986, said it felt like life has come a full circle for her team. "I remember the day Harsha was born. Her parents were on top of the world and so were we. Today Harsha can feel that. She delivered a healthy baby weighing 3.18 kilos," said the doctor. "It is hard to believe that we have delivered more than 15,000 test-tube babies since that day," said the doctor.
Harsha's pregnancy also showed that test-tube babies can conceive normally. "In Harsha's case, we had to do a C-section because it indicated a breach presentation," she said.
Over the years, Harsha and her medical creators have become a part of each other's lives, sharing every occasion and achievement. "It is but natural that she chose us to deliver her baby," said Dr Kusum Zaveri, who was a part of both deliveries.
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