KOCHI: Cicy and George Antony are ecstatic. After a long wait of over three decades, they are now the proud parents of three newborns. The triplets were born to them at Sabine Hospital in Muvattupuzha on July 22. A gushing Cicy, 55, said that their prayers had finally been answered.
“For the past 35 years, we have been praying for a baby. God has now blessed us with three children. It is very difficult to be part of a society which thinks that becoming a mother marks the completeness of a woman. The pain and the agony that a woman encounters when she is unable to conceive can only be related to by those who have gone through that. It is one of the toughest and most emotionally draining experiences a woman can pass through. However, now, we are experiencing the happiest period in our lives,” said the Irinjalakuda native.
George Antony, 59, husband of Cicy, could not have been anymore happy than this. “Treatments went on for nearly 34 years, not just in Kerala, but abroad too. Life was in despair, but finally, all we have been through was worth it,” he said.
Cicy and George had got married in 1987. Since he worked in the Gulf, for over 18 years, they were settled there. Later, they came back to Kerala and started their own business venture. Two years into their marriage, the couple began seeking various treatments to have a child. After repeated attempts failed to yield desired results, the two even thought of not going in for any further treatment.
Last June, Cicy developed continuous bleeding. When she sought treatment at a private hospital in Kochi, the doctors there advised her to have her uterus removed. It was on the advice of one of the doctors, who had attended to her there, that Cicy approached Sabine Hospital.
In September, she started the treatment at Sabine Hospital, which is known for infertility cure. Though the couple had sought treatment at various health centres and hospitals earlier, the experience at Sabine was different, according to Cicy.
“The good news was broken to us four months into the treatment. When we got to know that it was triplets, we were advised by our gynaecologist to stop travelling. Therefore, we took a house near the hospital on rent,” she said.
Last month, Cicy was delivered of two baby boys and a baby girl. Three weeks after delivery, they were discharged from hospital. According to the doctors, the triplets are healthy.
“It was on the advice of the doctor at the private hospital that we sought treatment here. It has been a milestone in our lives. To become a mother at 55 is a gift from God. To those trying to attain motherhood, do not give up hope and do not stop the treatment,” she said.
In 2015, Tripunithura native Sujatha Saseendaran, 51, had delivered triplets at the same hospital.
“It was a challenge for us. Now, with advanced medical technology, age is just a number for conception. It is the first time here that we are having a 55-year-old delivering triplets. We had cases, where a 62-year-old delivered a baby. If there were no added comorbidities, it is possible to treat infertility,” said Sabine Sivadasan, infertility specialist and chairman of Sabine Hospital and Research Centre.