A Ugandan woman who became one of the world’s oldest new mothers when she gave birth to a boy and girl at age 70 has finally returned home six weeks later — and introduced the “miracle” babies to the world.
Safina Namukwaya gave birth to the pair via C-section on Nov. 29 at the Women’s Hospital International and Fertility Center in the capital of Kampala, where she’d been receiving in-vitro fertilization treatment.
The hospital called it a “miracle at 70” as it posted photos of the smiling mom and her new babies as she finally got to take them home Saturday.
“At 70, Safina Namukwaya’s maternal love blossoms into a miracle, cradling twins alongside Dr. Edward Tamale-Sali,” reads a caption of a photo shared on the hospital’s Facebook page.
“Their hands hold not just babies, but gems of hope, proving that a mother’s love transcends time and age.”
The beaming Namukwaya is seen clutching one bundle of joy as the doctor holds up the other.
“She can’t stop staring at them,” Tamale-Sali told TODAY.com of Namukwaya, adding that she is a “loving” and “playful” mother to her two babies, named Shakira Babiyre Nabagala and Kato Shafique Kangave.
The doctor also announced on the show that she will be known in her village as Nalongo, which means mom of twins, while her hubby, Walusimbi Badru, will be called Salongo, or dad of twins.
Before she welcomed her first child three years ago, Namukwaya said she had been labeled in her village as a “cursed woman” for failing to get pregnant.
At a news conference outside the hospital Saturday, Tamale-Sali recalled how Namukwaya was up and about the same day she delivered the twins — and joked that she’s now “almost playing football,” Today.com reported.
“She’s fit, her blood pressure is normal, she’s not diabetic — she’s a very healthy woman and the whole of Africa is rejoicing for her,” he said.
“If you want another child, we’re here,” the doc then told Naumukwaya, half-jokingly.
Dr. Gloria Lunyolo, the twins’s pediatrician described them as “miracle babies,” and said they are alternating between formula and breast milk.
Namukwaya, who also has a 3-year-old daughter, told TODAY.com two days after giving birth that she felt “great.”
“Some might argue that 70 years is old, but God decided that I get to have twins at 70. There is no one that can put a limit on God’s authority and power,” she told the outlet.
“Some households will be helping me with washing and the babies because of my advanced age,” she said, adding that pregnancy at her age was no easy feat and that she felt very sick because of it at times.
Due to her age, Namukwaya used donor eggs and her husband’s sperm.
“We implanted four embryos, and then of course, she conceived the twins,” Tamale-Sali previously told TODAY.com.
The twins were born prematurely at 31 weeks of gestation and placed in incubators.
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine states that embryo transfer is “discouraged in women over age 55.”
Dr. Brian Levine, a practice director at New York City’s fertility clinic CCRM, told TODAY.com that it is “irresponsible” to impregnate a woman in her 70s.
“Data shows that women who give birth over the age of 50 have elevated rates of hypertension, gestational diabetes and preterm labor,” Levine told the outlet.
“If a 70-year-old gets a blood clot, suffers a stroke, or has a heart attack, the kids will be developmentally and possibly physically delayed. And who is going to take care of these medically fragile kids when their parents die?” he said.
But Tamale-Sali said he didn’t hesitate to treat Namukwaya because “it’s her human right. It’s her body. She’s physically fit.”
This was not the first time that a woman beyond the traditional child-bearing age has become a mom.
In 2019, a 73-year-old woman in southern India gave birth to twin girls after getting IVF care.
