Sexual intimacy is something that fades with age. That’s not just me being cynical, it’s fact: as we get older our natural libido tends to decrease.
It’s a sad time.
Are there couples out there that defy the odds? Probably. I don’t want to imagine 80-year-olds getting it on but, if i do stop to think, I’m sure it’s happening.
Each to their own.
What I certainly do not in any capacity or fibre of my being understand is the desire for those 80-something-year-olds to fall pregnant. And yet, that sometimes happens too. Like the case of this 74-year-old Indian woman who just gave birth to twins.
Yep, not one but two babies.
Mangayamma Yaramati has become the oldest mum in the world after giving birth to twins via cesarean. The pregnancy was no accident – it was a deliberate, planned choice.
Because Mangayamma had already experienced menopause she couldn’t conceive with her own eggs, so she got a donors egg fertilised with her husband’s sperm. Her hubby, Sitarama Rajarao‘s sperm, is a cool 82-years-old, by the way.
The Hindustan Times reports the fertilised egg was then implanted into Mangayamma and she carried the babies to full term.
The reason behind the pregnancy is actually a little sad: the couple struggled to fall pregnant over the course of their 57 year marriage and were stigmatised by their community for being unable to have children.
While I respect their decision and cultural struggles, I still think deciding to have babies well into old age is a little crazy.
When asked who would care for the twins should their parents pass away due to old age, the husband answered simply: “Whatever should happen, will happen. It is all in the hands of God.”
While I applaud the couple’s optimism their decision to conceive at such an old age is ultimately problematic.
First of all, it’s incredibly dangerous. Not only does sex drive go as we get older but our body’s natural strength also dissipates – things strain us a lot easier than they once did. And goodness knows having a baby growing inside of you is one of the biggest strains there is. Frankly, it’s a miracle this woman managed to survive the birthing let alone survive with her uterus intact.
Her decision is also selfish. Not in regard to other women – just because one woman struggles with fertility doesn’t mean another woman should not be able to have birth – but in regard to the children she just brought into the world.
She’s birthed them with the knowledge that she will not be able to raise them. Imagine, your own mother giving birth to you knowing she and your father are going to leave you one day and probably one day soon.
74 and 82 are not at the start of old age – they’re towards the prickly end. It’s a dark reality but one that must be considered: who knows how much longer Mangayamma and Sitarama will be alive and in their children’s lives for?
The day after his twins were born, Sitarama suffered a stroke. I could joke and say “yep, a kid will do that to you”, but the thing is, old age will do that to you too. And that’s a much more pressing issue in this situation.
Bringing a children into the world in your 70s is not cause for celebration.