The baby boy born to the Bangalore couple through a surrogate mother. Picture by Amit Datta

A childless couple from Bangalore was blessed with a baby boy with the help of a surrogate mother at a city infertility clinic on Thursday.

The couple, who refused to disclose their identity, had been trying for a child for more than 12 years.

“Following a prolonged treatment several hormonal injections, my wife’s blood pressure shot up. Doctors warned us she couldn’t conceive due to high blood pressure and other problems. We visited a number of infertility clinics in Bangalore and Mumbai but didn’t get the desired results,” the husband said.

The couple, both IT professionals, then approached Ghosh Dastidar Institute for Fertility Research in Calcutta. “After a thorough discussion with specialists here, we decided to search for a surrogate mother in Calcutta. Almost after a year, we found a woman who agreed to help us,” he added.

The 35-year old woman (name withheld), a mother of a 14-year-old, underwent a series of tests as the doctors had warned that in such cases, high blood pressure can be a threat to the life of the surrogate mother.

“The embryo was artificially developed in the clinic’s laboratory with sperm and egg of the parents. Then, the embryo was transferred to the woman’s uterus to induce pregnancy,” explained Sudarshan Ghosh Dastidar, director of the institute.

The embryo was implanted last June. “The baby was born on Thursday and is doing fine,” the doctor added.

“We helped the couple not for money but to give them real happiness in life. We’ll miss the baby, but his parents have promised to bring him here from time to time,” said the husband of the surrogate mother.