Surrogate babies are especially precious to their intended parents, but perhaps none more so than the Calcuttawalas, who have lost three sons to the dreaded Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
After losing their first three babies through Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, the Calcuttawalas thought they would never have a complete family.
It has been an excruciating decade for the couple, especially so for 37-year-old homemaker Niketa. She has delivered three boys, all through Caesarean sections, then experienced the pain of surrendering them shortly after to the perplexing phenomenon also known as cot death.
Her 38-year-old husband Haresh said: “You know, it plays on your mind — whether it is all about karma. We started reflecting, but could not understand what we have done to deserve all this.
“After the last one died in 2003, we felt like it was not meant to be, so we stopped trying…until we learnt about surrogacy.”
Haresh, a senior consultant with SAP India — a multinational software company, earns enough to afford a guarded condominium that is now worth millions of rupees, in Thane, a suburb 40 kilometres away from Mumbai City.
Yet, the Calcuttawalas have always felt there is something missing within the whitewashed walls of their sparsely decorated three-room apartment, a void that only the sight of their very own child bouncing off the furniture could fill.
“We didn’t even mind if it was male or female,” Haresh said, mindful of the fact that Indian culture has always valued a boy-child.
“We only ever wanted just one child,” Niketa interjected. “We didn’t know it would be this difficult.”
Counting on a miracle
Just when it seemed like options were running out for the desperate couple — Niketa’s womb can ill afford another Caesarean section — their doctors offered them the prospect of surrogacy.
“Given our circumstances and strong desire to have a child, we jumped at the opportunity once a suitable surrogate mother was available in Anand,” Haresh recounted, with excitement resurfacing in his countenance.
“Surrogacy is like our last-option solution.
“Had it failed, we would have been resigned to remaining childless. We were still counting on a miracle.”
Niketa still remembers the mixed feelings she had when they received the news that their surrogate had conceived.
“After all the disappointment that we’ve been through, we didn’t want to count this baby before he was born. That dampened our spirits somewhat,” she said in her native Gujarati.
Their fears were not unfounded. Parth was delivered prematurely by four weeks and suffered distress at birth. Within the next 26 days, the baby boy underwent two major surgeries.
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“We also have the best doctors and technology to complement these alternatives.”
