It has been a long cherished dream of the couple to be blessed with a baby but whenever 38-year-old Babli Meena becomes pregnant, she suffers a premature delivery, resulting in the death of the baby. But now Babli has given birth to her eighteenth baby. “The baby girl has completed her 21 days and she is under our observation,” said paediatrician Dhanjay Mangal in Jaipur.
“You cannot imagine our happiness. We lost 17 babies one by one in premature delivery,” said the newborn’s father Ramkishore Meena, who works as a daily wager while his wife Babli is Anganwadi worker. The family and relatives were in a happy mood. “Beta ho ya beti, koi faraq nahi padta. Hum bohot hi khush hai, (It does not matter if it is a boy or a girl. We are so happy to be blessed with a baby),” said Ramdev, an uncle of the newborn.
“Indeed, it was her seventeenth delivery. She gave birth to twins on her thirteenth delivery. So it was her eighteenth baby,” said Dr Mangal.
“The mother had given birth to the baby at a private hospital on July 6 in Bharatpur. When some complications developed, the baby was brought to my hospital and we are treating her. She is now in a good condition,” said Dr Mangal, who is the director of a private hospital in Jaipur.
Hailing from a small village under Alwar district, Ramkishore and his relatives distributed sweets when they were blessed with the baby. “Rishtedar Milne aaye aur badhai di (Relatives came here to greet us)” said the baby’s another uncle Mukesh while speaking over the phone from the village.
“I had told Babli and my brother Ramkishore to keep a gap of one or two years in pregnancy for the health of the child and Babli. But they could not realise the importance because they are not literate,” said Ramdev Meena, serving with the Railway Protection Force in Gujarat.