Strollerderby : india

A Surrogate Birth Every 48 Hours

Madeline Holler — Fri, 22 May 2009 20:10:00 GMT

In the U.S., the reported amount of money gestational carriers (aka: surrogate mothers) receive for nine months of developing some other couple's genetic material into a full-blown baby isn't exactly life-changing. It's never enough to buy a house, pay for a college degree, or even elevate one's standard of living.

But in India, surrogate mothers make enough to actually change their lives, according to one doctor who attends many, many surrogate births. A payment of $13,000 and often more is an incredible amount.

So while we considered what affect Sarah Jessica Parker would have on the rate and popularity of surrogate pregnancies in the U.S., Dr. Anita Soni, obstetrician in India at one of Mumbai's top hospitals, was attending a gestational carrier's birth every 48 hours.

Demand from childless Westerners, especially in the U.K. where commercial surrogacy is illegal, has created a surrogacy baby boom in India.

Soni said she attends the births of around 15 surrogates every month. She has no problem with arrangement, which she describes as life-changing for both sides.

From the London Evening Standard:

“For these surrogate mothers that amount of money is life-changing. It helps them set up a home, get their daughters married or something like that. There is absolutely no exploitation of these women. It is really big money. It is a jackpot.

“They go through a little bit of emotional trauma, but then they go back home and they realise they have done it for a good cause. I help more white couples than Indians, who are still sceptical about things. English couples come here much more in numbers.”

I don't know, a dowry seems like a waste of this money and of course the doctor sees surrogacy as a boon: she's benefitting from an increase in the births, too. Soni works at one of the few hospitals where surrogate mothers are sent to give birth. Also, I wonder about abuse. I wonder if we'll start hearing about daughters being sent to get pregnant to bring in extra money for the family (in India or other countries).

Another doctor who's getting a piece of the pie says business won't dry up anytime soon.

Dr Gauri Gupta of the Rotunda Clinic, who implants embryos in Indian surrogates before they go into the care of Dr Soni, said: “Surrogacy is spreading at a very fast pace here and there have been very few complaints. It is a very helpful way for people who could not have children before to become parents and we are seeing more and more couples from the UK every day. Our email inquiry box is full of messages from people from all over the West.”

What do you think? Win-win situation in India and Great Britain? Or is the American low-pay, high-benevolence factor the better model? Surrogate pregnancies aren't likely to stop anytime soon -- especially since it's been globalized.

How Fertile Couples Outsmarted Wall Street

Colbert to Food Movement Guy: Yes, But Were YOU Breastfed?

They Say: Moms, It's Still Your Fault. Well, Yours and Daycare

Top 10 Pregnancy and Birth World Records

City's 5th Co-Sleeping Death in 10 Weeks Reported

550-Pound Woman Gives Birth

Photo: London Evening Standard

When Discipline Kills: Indian Schoolgirl Dies After Punishment

Kate Tuttle — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:31:00 GMT

An 11-year-old girl in India died this week after being forced to stand in the sun for two hours, with bricks on her shoulders, for not successfully reciting the English alphabet in class. Eventually, the child vomited, then fainted, and was taken to the hospital where she later died.

Worse yet, some reports indicate that the girl, Shano Khan, had been repeatedly punished in school due to her poor attendance -- which itself was caused by her having had a seizure condition. School officials are blaming her death on her chronic illness, while of course any sane person would say that when you take a medically fragile person, then subject her to physical abuse, you shouldn't be shocked when something awful happens.

According to the BBC, the country's municipal schools tend to serve a poor population and teachers there are known to punish students severely, while anyone who can afford to sends their kids to private schools, which do not use corporal punishment (beatings are outlawed for all schools, but apparently the rule is frequently flouted).

The teacher has been charged, and both she and the school's principal suspended, and the girl's family is reportedly being compensated for her loss. But as her father points out, this will not bring back their child.

Shockingly, corporal punishment is still legal in public schools in 23 US states. The seven states listed as "most violent" in terms of amount and severity of coporal punishment in schools are Texas, Florida, Mississippi, Indiana, Arkansas, Louisiana and South Carolina. As we ponder the shocking early death of a girl like Shona Kahn, it's worth reflecting on what can be done to end state-sanctioned violence against children in schools closer to home.

More by this author:

They Say: Bilingual Babies Learn Better

Why Are We So Shocked When Women Kill?

(Public) Breastfeeding Now Legal in Massachusetts

Another Hospital Baby Mix-Up, Now With Added Racism!

Slumdogs No More: Two ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ Kids Get New Houses

SunnyChanel — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 01:50:00 GMT

The kids of the Academy Octo -Awarded film ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ are having quite a week. First they are whisked away from their home in Mumbai to attend the glamorous Oscars ceremony. Then they paid a visit to the Happiest Place on Earth, Disneyland. And now, the icing on the cake, the cherry on top, the event that goes beyond just fun-filled memories; two of the Slumdog kids are getting new houses.

Rubina Ali and Azhar Ismail, two of the real slum dwelling children who played the young versions of the protagonists of the film, have been “gifted” with new homes courtesy of the Indian government. A government spokesperson stated, "These two children have brought laurels to the country, and we have been told that they live in slums, which cannot even be classified as housing."

This dwelling windfall is in addition to the professionally managed trusts set up for the kids by the producers of the film. The film producers had intended to move the young actors into apartments but Indian government came in to save the day, in what some are speculating as merely a political ploy before their upcoming elections.

Regardless, the kids are getting new houses, will be getting rides to and from school and the guilt surrounding the idea that these kids were being exploited can be happily assuaged.

Source

Also check out:

'Slumdog Millionaire' Kids More Slumdog Than Millionaire

The Kids from Slumdog Millionaire Go to Disneyland

Indian Children Married off . . . to Frogs

JeanneSager — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 13:26:00 GMT

Far be it for me to poke fun at someone else's religion (I have enough problems with my own). But I draw the line at illegal child marriages.

Especially when seven-year-old girls are married off to frogs.

And by frogs, I don't mean the type who will one day be kissed and turn into princess. We're talking the "it ain't easy being green," ribbit, ribbit variety.

In a ceremony in a remote Indian village last week, seven-year-olds Vigneswari and Masiakanni were dressed in traditional bridal saris and carried to sit in front of a Hindu priest who bound their hands and prayed over them and the frog grooms. The practice is rooted in the story of a Hindu god, and parents now choose children who have yet to hit puberty to be wed to frogs in order to save their small villages from disease.

Bizarre? Yes. Cultural? That too.

But while I can accept there are vast differences between what we accept as "normal" in America and what is de riguer in India, this particular practice isn't merely a cultural oddity. It's dehumanizing for these poor girls, who are forced into bizarre rituals that will forever mark them. Imagine years later attempting to marry only to have to tell your prospective spouse you have once been through the official religious ceremony before . . . with a frog. That's assuming the frog marriage doesn't stand - back in 2003, when an Indian girl was forced to marry a dog, tribal officials said that she would be free to marry again as an adult.

The frogs were thrown back into the pond, so these kids don't have to live the farcical "man and wife" situation that would result from an interspecies marriage, or any child marriage for that matter. But what does this do to their still forming personalities and emotions?

I suppose the kids could be proud that they were chosen to "save" the village, but it's just as easy to see how they could identify themselves as their parents' sacrificial lambs. And just as easy to imagine what will happen to their psyches when the "wedding" doesn't actually ward off disease.

So how about we let them dream about frog princes and keep connubial dreams Kermit free.

Image: Picture Book

Mumbai Hero Nanny May Get Top Israeli Honor

JeanneSager — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 14:32:00 GMT

When we leave our kids with a sitter, we always hope they'll take at least as good a care of them as we would. Risking life and limb to save theirs isn't too much to ask.

In the midst of the terrible tragedy of the Mumbai terrorist attacks, nanny Sandra Samuel has stood out for her bravery - and her devotion to her charge. Now Israel is considering conveying one of its highest honors, an award reserved in the past for Holocaust-era heroes.

Samuel had a "special connection" with toddler Moshe Holtzberg, the son of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka. After hours locked in her room, hiding from the attackers, Samuel says she heard Moshe calling for her. Despite terrorists still on the premises, Samuel unlocked the door and followed his voice, finally finding the boy covered in blood beside his dead parents. She grabbed the child and ran outside. She escorted the boy all the way to Israel, where his grandparents have taken in the toddler and the country is discussing the possible conference of the Righteous Gentile award. It's an award given in the past to non-Jews who helped rescue Jews during the Holocaust, including Schindler's List inspiration Oskar Schindler.

It should help the Indian native stay in Israel if she so desires, and it's one of the brighter stories coming out of the tragedies. In some ways, it's even more amazing than Hannah's story earlier this week about the dad who snuck into the hotel under siege to bring milk to his wife and children. This wasn't Samuel's child. She could have stayed locked up safe in her room. She could have assumed the child's parents would take care of him.

I love my babysitter, but if anything ever happens, I've got to tell you - I wouldn't mind having this woman watch my daughter.

Image: The Age

One Hundred Forty Eight Years Later, Family Still Using Christening Gown

Is Banked Sperm Really the Same as Hair and Toenail Clippings?

Catholic High School Kicks out Catholicism

In Mumbai, Italian Faces Terrorists to Bring Milk to His Baby

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:30:00 GMT

In the midst of phenomenally tragic situations, it helps to focus on happy stories within the larger horror. An Italian named Emanuele Lattanzi was at the center of one of these small but paramount triumphs a few days ago, when he faced gunmen in order to rescue his wife and baby girl from the Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai.

Lattanzi, a chef working in the hotel kitchen, was evacuated out of an emergency exit with other restaurant staff as soon as terrorists stormed the building. But his wife and six-month-old daughter were trapped in their hotel room.

For the next two days, Lattanzi was powerless to get to his family, as soldiers would not let anyone through. But he communicated with his wife via cell phone, and when he learned that she had no milk left for the baby by day two of the siege, he was determined to reach her and his daughter with some powdered milk.

Finally, soldiers gave in to his pleas, escorting him to the door of his hotel room, where he remained with his family until soldiers had killed all of the gunmen. He brought his daughter to a pediatrician, where she was pronounced unharmed.

Lattanzi has rightly been hailed the "hero cook" by every major Italian newspaper.

Photo: Herald Sun

Mumbai Hero Nanny May Get Top Israeil Honor

Rare Condition Makes Boy Look Like Werewolf

Brett Singer — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Ordinarily I would expect a headline referring to a child as "Wolf Boy" to appear in the Weekly World News and to be completely false. This time, however, it's real.

Pruthviraj Patil, an 11 year old boy from India, "suffers from a rare genetic disorder known as hypertrichosis - or "werewolf syndrome" - which causes a thick coat of hair to grow over every inch of his body except his palms and feet," according to the New York Post. This video from "My Shocking Story" on TLC shows other people who share Pruthviraj's pain. (Warning: it's slightly disturbing and very sad since these are real kids suffering from a rare and bizarre condition, which is " estimated to afflict fewer than 50 people on the planet," according to the Post.)

However, a group of scientists at Columbia University may have discovered a cure, which came out of their research on baldness. Pruthviraj has started on a treatment program the scientists have developed, and hopes that the excessive hair will go away. While the Post says that the boys' "friends and neighbors grew to accept him over time," he is far from pleased by his condition. "When I look in the mirror, I see that I have hair on my face and no one else does. Why is it only me?"

It's like the X-Men, except this time it's real. And no fun at all. Hopefully the treatments will help the poor kid and others like him.

Source: New York Post

Read more:

Rejected Baby Born to Surrogate Finally Home

Madeline Holler — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:35:00 GMT

Remember that story a few months ago, when a baby girl was born to a surrogate mother in India but wasn't allowed to be adopted by the father who commissioned her (or whatever it's called)?

Well, there's a happy ending.

The girl, Manjhi Yamada, is now in Japan, living with her father and paternal grandmother.

Manjhi's story in a nutshell:

Japanese woman and Japanese man, Ikufumi Yamada, hire an Indian woman to act as a surrogate mother. Japanese father provides sperm. Indian surrogate starts gestating. In the meantime, Japanese woman wants nothing to do with her husband and they divorce. She also wants nothing to do with the baby, who was born in July. Fine. So after Manjhi's birth, Yamada heads to India to adopt his daughter. Only authorities won't let him. Indian law requires a mother to be present for an adoption.

Baby is in legal limbo. Yamada's mother, the baby's grandmother, stays to take care of the girl while everything gets sorted out. Media pressure forces India to relent. And now, little Manjhi is home.

Photo: CNN.com

Baby Boy Developed in Mom's Intestine Delivered Via Cesarean

JeanneSager — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:32:00 GMT

It was supposed to be just another C-section. But when doctors cut open an Indian mom to deliver her son, they found the little boy wasn't in the uterus. He was in her sigmoid colon, the space at the end of her large intestine.

As recently as two days before delivery, doctors saw nothing wrong with the woman's second pregnancy. But at 37 weeks pregnant, she arrived at the hospital emergency room in extreme pain with her abdomen "tender and tense." Rushed into surgery, doctors soon found the mother of two mother of two (including the newborn baby boy) had a rare secondary abdominal pregnancy. They happen in one in ten thousand pregnancies, but the fetus rarely makes it out of the first trimester. Only 109 moms with a secondary abdominal pregnancy has delivered a baby in the entire world; this is only the second in India.

A study in the Journal of the Institute of Medicine, published in 1998, followed the first Indian mom to deliver after a secondary abdominal pregnancy. It reports the risk of maternal death is 17 times greater than the average pregnancy, 90 times greater than an intrauterine pregnancy (where the baby develops in the uterus).

Uncontrollable bleeding is one of the chief risks to the mother, and 30-year-old Meena had to be treated mid-surgery to stop the bleeding. It worked, and doctors were able to successfully deliver her child without any further trouble. The little boy weighed two and a quarter kilograms (roughly four pounds).

Both mom and baby are doing fine.

Source: The Times of India

Image: DailyMail

Five Movies You Shouldn't Watch While Pregnant

Australian Family Says They Were Served Poop Ice Cream

They Say: Depression Can Lead to Premature Birth

Family Keeps Dead Mother in the Freezer For More Than a Year

Teen Gives Birth ... Nine Hours After Discovering Pregnancy

Morning News: Pregnant With Palin

Madeline Holler — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:30:00 GMT

We are absolutely pregnant with Palin news here this morning. Which is so weird, because her popularity is starting to sag. Barack Obama is also, like, way ahead in the polls (a double-digit lead?!). There can't possibly be anything more to say about Sarah Palin or the McCain-Palin campaign or even the people who play Palin on TV.

But there is more! So, so much more.

Let's start with Daily Palin naughty bits. Sarah is once again (or is it still?) under scrutiny in Alaska for getting the state to pick up the tab for her kids. The state doled out more than $21,000 in travel expenses for her three girls, including several nights in a NYC luxury hotel for Bristol and a nice little family gathering to watch First Dad Dude in a snowmobile race. Kids' travel is a bit of a gray area, but apparently some reports were amended to make them official state business.

Now a dose of humor: the secret to Tina Fey's Sarah Palin impressions: Fey glues down her ears. Also, Palin's "keeping it tight," according to Fey, who claims, unlike the candidate, her own body is starting to droop.

And also, how did Saturday Night Live get Palin to come on the show? The Palin-McCain team begged for a spot.

An academic exercise: we already know that it took five years, four universities and three states for her to finish college and get a journalism degree. So what was the deal? The LA Times has a short piece on her college years. Reporters did their best to track down classmates and profs that remember her to very little success. What we learn is that she smoked pot but likely didn't do drugs, she wasn't a party girl, and that she offered to pray for friends with boy troubles. Oh, PS: the party girl says Palin always wanted to talk about politics and history. Hmmmm.

Perhaps she missed her American Government elective the day vice presidential duties according to the Constitution were discussed. Palin still doesn't get it.

A somber apology: in an interview with CNN, Sarah Palin apologized and said she didn't mean to imply urban Americans weren't patriotic. But she didn't explain what she actually meant.

Girlfriend's looking good: The Republican National Committee has been dropping piles of money on new clothes and accessories for Sarah Palin out on the campaign trail -- $150,000 so far (and a drop in the fashion expenses bucket for Cindy McCain). Politico lists some of the itemized expenses, including nearly $50,000 at Saks in both NYC and St. Louis. The RNC also spent a rather reserved $295 at Pacifier and Steiniauf & Stroller Inc. (high-end baby boutiques ... but you knew that). Question: does she get to keep the stuff, even if she loses?

We think even die-hard Democrats are hoping she got this donkey scarf for free.

The well-heeled Palin accused Barack Obama of gender bias yesterday ... then surrounded herself with people more than willing to wreck shit for females everywhere.

Obama's gravely ill grandmother is fighting for her life so she can see the outcome of this election, while historians fight over the political risks of taking time off from campaigning this close to election day. As long as he doesn't get caught taking in a round of golf or otherwise engaging in tropical fun, he should be just fine. Let's imagine the risks of NOT going to see "Toot."

Anyway, McCain appears to be walking away from every state but Pennsylvania. He's scaling back ads in Wisconsin and his beloved, rebirthplace New Hampshire. (There go Meghan McCain's tattoo dreams!)

Sick of Palin, McCain, Obama, elections? Here's a distraction: 2 million uninsured kids out there actually have at least one parent who is insured. Oy! Can we please get back to the election?

While you were taking in the latest Palin/Obama/Obama grandma/election news, India launched a freaking rocket to the moon! Is Chandrayaan-1 how you say "Sputnik" in Sanskrit?

Is Sarah Palin a Maverick? A Rogue? Or Just a Bad Running Mate?

Why Won't Sarah Palin Release Her Medical Records?

Barack Obama Doll Show! Yes, Really.

McCain's Daughter to Get Tattoo ... If Dad Wins Election

Photo: MSNBC.com

New Mom is 60, New Dad is Blind - And That's The Least of Their Worries

JeanneSager — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:16:00 GMT

The parents of a newborn baby girl in Bihar, India have taken their lumps and come out swinging. New mom Chandan Devi is 60 years old. Her husband, Kari Ram, is blind. And the couple is living in a relief camp after their village was flooded.

The baby girl, the first for Devi and Ram, is being regarded as a miracle and attracting hundreds of visitors to the camp. Bihar is one of the poorest areas in India, and life only got harder when monsoon rains decimated the area. More than 1,500 people were killed, millions left without homes.

Last month, government officials announced they would be giving additional monies to mothers who gave birth in the relief camps where the displaced are living. As their baby was a girl, Devi and Ram qualify for a higher payout than they would have received for a boy baby.

Image: DesiMums

Immaculate Conception: Virgin Shark Gives Birth to Twins

News from Darkest Peru: Paddington Turns 50

Pit bulls and kids: Scared or Perfectly Comfortable?

Part II: Why Parents of Boys Have It Better (And Why They Don't)

Remember Baby Jessica? An Indian Boy's Struggle Makes a Mom Cry

JeanneSager — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:22:00 GMT

I remember my mother holding me tight while workers were down a well in Texas trying to rescue Baby Jessica. It was 1987, and my mother had not just me but my infant brother at home while every mom in the country held her breath for the 18-month-old Jessica McClure. I was a typical kid who wanted to get back to reading my book. I didn't know about a baby in a well, and I didn't care.

Two decades later, this morning I was the mother hugging tight a struggling kid while workers are down a 150-foot borewell in India digging to rescue a 2-year-old. What is it about being a parent that makes us that much more attuned to a family in crisis?

Before getting pregnant, I would never have wished real ill toward a child. But I wouldn't have sat with one tab open on my computer screen, watching for news of a child literally half a world away. I would have read the story, shrugged, moved on. I might have let pass a comment to my husband or coworkers about how sad it was. But that's it. I felt empathy. I am, after all, human. But nothing like this. Last week, writing a story for the local newspaper about a child suffering from neuroblastoma with a complication that has taken away the almost-2-year-old's ability to walk, and the family's struggle to make ends meet, I wept over my keyboard. When I pulled it together, I pulled my daughter onto my lap and stuck my nose in her hair to drink in the baby shampoo, and I nearly lost it again. I'm not pregnant. I'm not hormonal. But I read the story of 2-year-old Sonu, who is still stuck, 60 feet down the bore well near his home in Agra, India, and I clenched my fists to keep from crying.

Is this all part and parcel of being a parent? Do you find yourself clenching your fists until you find out another person's child is going to be OK?

Image: The Times of India

What's Worse, Getting Fat or Getting Pregnant?

Samples of Medicines Not Getting to Poor Kids

Mob Mol Who Smuggled Sperm Says Prison System Hates Her Child for Being Born

Crowds Gather to See Two-Headed Boy

Jen Chaney — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:28:00 GMT

Wow, I've always wanted to write a headline that sounds like something from the Weekly World News. Mission accomplished.

A baby boy with two heads was indeed born in Bangladesh. His name is Kiron and while he weighs in at a little more than a healthy 12 pounds, doctors are still trying to determine what his medical prospects are and whether he has one or two sets of vital organs. Meanwhile, because children with abnormalities are often regarded in some countries as gods -- see Lakshmi, the Indian girl with eight arms and legs -- more than 150,000 people have gathered outside the hospital where the baby and his mother are resting. Police reportedly had to be called in to control the mob of Kiron-crazed masses.

Of course, Kiron and Lakshmi aren't the only unusual babies to arrive in recent months. In March, a two-faced girl was born in India, also attracting much media attention. All of which makes me wonder what the heck is going on in India and Bangladesh to cause all these unconventional kids. So far, they seem healthy, which is good. But either these physical abnormalities are becoming more common, or we're just hearing more about births like this because of the 'ol InterWeb.

Obviously Kiron's existence may be sparking a few questions in your mind: When he cries, does it sound like stereo? And breast-feeding ... um ... what's up with that? While we ponder those philosophical issues, let's just continue to hope Kiron stays healthy and thrives.

55-Year-Old Births Healthy Quadruplets

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 20:25:00 GMT

A 55-year-old woman whose name has not been released to the public gave birth to four baby boys in Italy this week. Born two months premature, the babies are in incubators at the hospital, but they are all doing well. Their father, 38-year-old Pabla Maghar Singh, says that he and his wife are overjoyed about the new arrivals. Financial concerns about caring for four little ones—the mother works for a cleaning business, while the father is a metal worker—apparently could not damper their happiness at finally having the babies they have wanted for so long.

Italian law is not friendly to assisted fertility, so the mother returned to her native India for IVF treatments. Her decision is not uncommon: since the restrictive assisted fertility law was passed in 2004, the number of Italian couples who seek fertility treatments outside of their country has quadrupled.

The birth of Italian qraduplets to an Indian mother also reflects a nationwide fertility trend. Italy’s relatively low birth rate reached a 16-year high of 1.35 children per mother in 2006, in large part due to immigrant births.

And, in case you were wondering, the adorable quadruplets pictured are not the Italian ones mentioned. But I say, any chance you get to use a photo of newborn quadruplets, take it.

Photo: novelette.com

92-Year-Old Helps Deliver Great-Great-Granddaughter

Most Unpleasant Places to Deliver a Baby

Grass Green, Sky Blue, Another Old Lady Gives Birth to Her Grandson

Super Old Mom of Newborn Twins: My Son's a Dream; My Daughter? Meh

Super Old Mom of Newborn Twins: My Son's a Dream! (My Girl? Whatever!)

Madeline Holler — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:38:00 GMT

Remember the record-breaking Indian woman who, at the age of 70, gave birth to twins to become the world's oldest mother of newborns? Yeah, well despite all the ridicule, the health problems, the expense of IVF and her high-risk pregnancy, Omkari Panwar is head over heels for her newborn son. And he certainly is a cutie!

Her daughter however (that's her in the picture without the hat), is just another damn burden for mom and dad (tell me about it, lady, I've got two of them!).

From the Daily Mail:

'We paid all this money to the doctors for a son, but now we have the extra burden of another daughter as well.' Boys are cherished in India because daughters are not allowed to inherit property but leave to marry and become part of their new husband's family.

The son might not feel so lucky when he eventually does inherit their property (sooner rather than later, huh?). Because they sold the buffalo and took out a huge mortgage on the land. He'll inherit all debt too!

The couple have grandchildren from three older daughters, who will take care of the kids after the parents die. The father, Charan Singh Panwar, says: 'It will be an honour for them to raise their new brother. (Um? Forgetting someone?)

'Now my daughters will have a family home to return to on religious days and special occasions.' It is tradition for sons to remain in the parental home with their wives. On festival days the daughters of the family come to visit with their own husbands and children.

Egyptian woman gives birth to septuplets because she wanted a boy

Photo: Daily Mail

Follow-Up: Surrogate Baby Could Get Visa If She Doesn't Get Adopted First

Jen Chaney — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:42:00 GMT

Both Madeline and I recently wrote about Manji Yamada, the baby who was born via a surrogate mother in India but whose biological Japanese parents have since divorced. Because the biological mother no longer wants the child, it has been enormously difficult for the father to bring her home to Japan. So she is still in India, where her paternal grandmother has dutifully watched after her.

Now, finally, some progress: A Japanese Justice Minister has said a visa will likely be granted to the girl, which would make good sense. Meanwhile, according to Agence France-Presse, a child welfare group in India is trying to adopt her.

An organization called Satya (which means Truth) has filed a petition to take custody of little Manji because her parents have acted "irresponsibly." Now, there is no question that the mother was irresponsible. Deciding that she didn't want the baby after the surrogate pregnancy was well under way is more than a little selfish. As for the father, if we can believe what we have read, he is making a good-faith effort to bring the child home. Granted, he did return to Japan because of work. But it seems lile Satya is just as irresponsible for exploiting a high-profile situation in an attempt to keep a child away from her biological family.

Honestly, the most responsible person in this whole mess is Manji's grandmother. She has stayed by that child's side from minute one and vowed not to leave India without her. If anyone deserves to raise that baby, it's her.

Related Links:

A Surrogate Child With No Place to Call Home

Divorced Wife to Surrogate Mom: Eh. Nevermind

A Surrogate Child With No Place to Call Home

Jen Chaney — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:26:00 GMT

So here's a heartbreaking story to add some cheer to your day.

According to CNN.com, and as Madeline also recently reported in this here blog, two-week old Manjhi Yamada is still stuck in a hospital in India and unable to go home. Why? She was delivered by an Indian surrogate mother who carried the baby on behalf of a Japanese couple. Then the couple got divorced and the Japanese mom decided she didn't want the child after all. Now the Japanese father and grandmother are having a hell of a time trying to bring the baby girl home to Japan.

Indian law says a baby can only get a passport if her mother is present. Neither of the moms in this case are willing to get involved. The father has even looked into adopting the child -- who, by the way, is biologically his since his sperm was used to create her -- but according to Indian law, a single man cannot adopt a daughter.

Meanwhile, poor little Manjhi has been hospitalized again because she refuses to eat and has become dehydrated.

It's a sad situation and one that makes a couple of things very clear: 1. The laws in India are woefully antiquated. And 2. If you're going to hire a surrogate mother, you should probably make sure that a. you want to stay married to your husband and b. you really want that child.

Apparently the girl's birth certificate has been issued and that lists only her father's name, which might help her get a visa to go to Japan. For the baby's sake, we can only hope she gets better and goes home soon.

Image: CNN.com

Divorced Wife to Surrogate Mom: Eh. Nevermind

Madeline Holler — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:02:00 GMT

A 12-day-old baby is waiting at the Indian hospital where she was born for laws to catch up with the rather complicated history of her short life.

The baby girl is the biological daughter of a Japanese man and was intended to be the daughter of him and his Japanese wife. She was conceived via eggs donated by an Indian woman and born via an Indian surrogate.

However, shortly after fertilization, the Japanese couple who got the girl's life rolling divorced.

The would-be mom decided she no longer wanted the child. Fine, the dad was still interested. But! The law in India prohibits a single man from adopting a girl baby. Sooooo. Baby,who is an Indian citizen, waits in legal limbo for a Japanese passport.

Baby Manji's paternal grandmother and an Indian friend of the father's are taking care of the girl while all the legal stuff gets sorted out.

Surrogacy is emerging as a booming business for many poor women in India. But looks like their laws need to catch up so all contingencies are covered.

From Yahoo!:

Surrogate mothers in Anand charge about 100,000 rupees (2,500 dollars) for a pregnancy and have been approached by a number of overseas Indian and foreign couples who can have a surrogate baby at a fraction of the cost in Western countries.

Baby Factory Spurs Controversy

Photo: Yahoo!

72-Year-Old Gives Birth to Twins

Madeline Holler — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:31:00 GMT

She's officially the oldest woman to give birth in the world. At a spry 72-years-old, Omkari Panwar, mother of two and grandmother of five, gave birth to a set of twins earlier this month.

Mom gave birth to the boy and girl via c-section in her home state of Uttar Pradesh in northern India. The pregnancy was extremely difficult and she's not doing so well now either.

The 75-year-old father says the couple is very happy, even though their fellow villagers range from stunned to disgusted by the fact that this couple underwent IVF at such a late, late time in their lives.

From ABCnews.com

Singh was reluctant to speak because he has received negative publicity for his wife's having children at such an advanced age. ... "The desire for a male child has always been there, but God did not bless us with a male child," he said of the son who is a product of in vitro fertilization. "Now, we are very grateful to God, who has answered our prayers."

The babies are doing well, despite being a month premature. The pregnancy was quite difficult, according to reports, and the mother had been on bedrest for eight months of the pregnancy.

Wow. I usually get behind these aging mamas, but in this case, I think I'm irritated at the whole male heirs thing. In any case, it's all between her and her doctor (who thought she was 65, incidentally ... sure, big difference). Incidentally, they used their life savings AND took out a loan to pay the doctor for the IVF treatments, etc. What a lucky male heir (and daughter) they produced!

Britain's Oldest Mum Still Old, Still a Mum

Photo: worldrecordsacademy.org

Pregnant Wife Killed for Refusing Sex

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:10:00 GMT

My apologies for being such a downer today. I’m not happy about the news, either. In an Indian village near Raipur, a man named Ganeshram admitted to strangling his wife to death because she refused his sexual advances, saying she was too pregnant.

Although Ganeshram and his parents initially described the death as an accident, a postmortem report found that the woman had been killed by strangulation. Upon his arrest, Ganeshram immediately admitted to the murder. The police chief’s statement on the crime makes it disturbingly possible to understand why Ganeshram might have felt he'd gain some sympathizers if he openly discussed his motives for the murder. Speaking of Ganeshram’s wife, the chief stated, “She refused because of her advanced pregnancy and she abused him, calling him a dog.”

She abused him?! I sincerely hope the chief was simply paraphrasing Ganeshram’s diabolical thinking--and that Ganeshram's sentencing is harsh enough to serve as a warning to other domestic abusers.

Photo: tribuneindia.com

Couple Dump Twins at Hospital for Being the Wrong Sex

Amy Kuras — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:02:00 GMT

I think these people don’t qualify for the "1 0 Ways You're a Great Parent" list. A couple from Birmingham, England dumped their twin daughters at a British hospital because they were girls.

The couple, 59 (!) and 72 (!!), traveled to India for fertility treatment and conceived the babies via IVF. Immediately after the babies were delivered by C-section, the couple told medical staff at the hospital in Wolverton that they didn’t want the babies because they were the wrong gender. Also the father was apparently very keen to find out when they could fly out again for another round of IVF so they could try for a boy to carry on the family name.

Now, if carrying on the family name were so important, I've gotta wonder why this couple didn’t get around to reproducing until they were old enough to qualify for senior discounts. And while I understand that having a boy is much more important in some cultures (this couple is Indian) you've got to realize you roll the genetic dice when you have a kid and deal with whatever happens.

Sex selection is apparently a huge problem in India because of the cultural preference for boys. It's been banned since 1996, but according to Unesco, there's a thriving subculture of doctors who will perform ultrasounds and then abortions if the fetus is found to be the wrong sex. No matter how pro-choice you are, that's a little hard to take. Let's hope these little girls find a loving adoptive home.

It’s Raining Little Men: India’s Baby Throwing Ritual

Cole Gamble — Wed, 07 May 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Many experts believe a mother’s breast milk help a baby grow stronger. In India, they have a different method of toughing up their babies: drop them 5 stories.

Save your Michael Jackson jokes for after you see the video.

Yowzah.

You know, I don’t feel much like passing judgment on other cultures today, so I’ll let you good folks do that in the comments below.

Dog Rescues Girl Abandoned by Mother

Madeline Holler — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:32:00 GMT

A roving pack of stray do-gooder dogs in eastern India just made me cry!

They rescued a newborn baby girl who had been buried in the outskirts of a small village. The dogs came across the girl, who was squirming in a mound of mud, and started carefully digging. Then, they got help.

From Yahoo!:

"The dogs removed the soil around and began to bark and the baby started crying which drew attention of the local villagers," Ram Narayan Sahani, a senior government official, said on Tuesday from Bihar's Samastipur district.

"The girl is crying but is safe in the lap of a childless couple who have adopted her."

Police are searching for the baby's mother.

Photo: via leerburg.com (not the aforementioned abandoned baby and rescue dog)

Update on the Two-Faced Baby

Madeline Holler — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 21:34:00 GMT

Remember baby Lali, the little girl from northern India who was born with two faces? Well, she's apparently doing fine and in really good health. And, like her fellow country-girl Lakshmi, the Indian girl born with two sets of arms and legs, Lali is being hailed as a reincarnation of a Hindu goddess.

So, here's the deal with Lali and her extremely rare condition.

From Yahoo News:

The baby, Lali, apparently has an extremely rare condition known as craniofacial duplication, where a single head has two faces. Except for her ears, all of Lali's facial features are duplicated — she has two noses, two pairs of lips and two pairs of eyes. ... Lali's condition is often linked to serious health complications, but the doctor said she was doing well. "She is leading a normal life with no breathing difficulties," said Ali, adding that he saw no need for surgery.

She drinks milk from both mouths (!) and blinks all four of her eyes at the same time (!!!!!). I wonder how she'll talk ... will both mouths and tongues articulate the words? If she blinks at the same time, I'm guessing both mouths will smile at the same time too. Fascinating.

Neighbors are flocking to pay their respects to the little girl, who they worship as the return of the goddess of valor, Durga, a fiery deity traditionally depicted with three eyes and many arms.

Village elders want the goverment to build a temple in honor of the girl. And they're delighted by the fame Lali has brought to the village.

Photo: Yahoo!

Saving the World in Junior High

Amy Kuras — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:06:00 GMT

Kids today. Why, when I was Tara Suri's age, I was…well, doing not a whole hell of a lot, actually, compared to what she's accomplished.

When she was 13 years old, Tara went to India with her family. She was profoundly saddened by the poverty she observed, and wanted to do something to help the orphaned children she saw there and the Sudan.

"It was somewhat of a revelation for me," Tara, now 16, told CNN. "It was the first time I recognized the economic disparities and the gender inequalities that were there. And that really touched me and I knew I had to do something about it."

So she began HOPE, for Helping Orphans Pursue Education, which helps kids with housing and other needs so they can go to school.

Since its founding three years ago, Tara has parlayed bake sales and recycling drives into two other charities, Turn Your World Around, which aims to link teens with grassroots projects, and Connect a Kid, which works to improve access to education in developing countries as well as an umbrella organization, Aandolan, which means "movement for change" in Hindi.

Tara's gotten all sorts of well-deserved accolades for her work including being named CosmoGirl! Of the Year 2007 and a "Very Best In Youth" by Nestle (is it wrong that I am irked that the Cosmo award included a makeover? Like, you're totally great and doing amazing things and all, but you'd better put on some eyeshadow, honey).

Damn world-changing, idealisitic kids, making it impossible for me to be cynical….