Couple welcome baby boy 21 years after first child

38-year-old mother had suffered four miscarriages in the last two decades

ASomali couple in the UAE recently became parents again, 21 years after the birth of their first child, with successful intervention from an obstetrician and gynaecologist at a Sharjah-based hospital.

The couple, Noor Eldeen, 55 and Naima Haji, 38, became the proud parents of a baby they named Maher on August 13 at the Al Zahra Hospital, Sharjah. Father Noor, a businessman, told Gulf News:

“I spent over Dh200,000 in fertility treatments. In the last two decades, we visited seven doctors and every time we felt hopeful only to be disappointed when my wife suffered repeated miscarriages.

We had to wait for more than two decades for this baby. Our happiness and joy is indescribable.”

Dr Mohammad Al Haassoun, a specialist in obstetrics and gynaecology at the Al Zahra Hospital who treated Haji and made it possible for her to carry the pregnancy through the nine months, told Gulf News: “Naima had a congenital malformation of the uterus and during the birth of her first son 21 years ago, her cervix [floor or the uterus near the opening of the birth canal] had ruptured.”

That made it impossible for the mother to continue pregnancies into the third trimester and she suffered four miscarriages in the last two decades.

How it was done

“This pregnancy was made possible with in-vitro fertilisation and 16 weeks into the pregnancy, we performed a cervical cerclage on the patient under general anaesthesia,” Al Haassoun said. Eldeen said: “I thank God for blessing me with a baby and deeply grateful to Dr Al Hassoun, who made it happen.”