Somalian couple in Sharjah get a baby boy after 21 years

Dubai: A Somalian 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 Somalian couple, Noor Eldeen, 55 and Naima Haji, 38, became the proud parents of a bonny baby they named Maher on August 13 at the Al Zahra Hospital, Sharjah. The father Noor Eldin, 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 her pregnancy into the third trimester and she suffered four miscarriages in the last two decades. 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. This was a tricky procedure. This is a surgery that uses sutures and tapes to strengthen the cervix to prevent any miscarriage. This procedure succeeded and the mother was able to carry through the pregnancy right up to the 37th week after which the healthy baby boy was delivered through a Caesarean section.”

El Deen added: “I am grateful and thankful to God for blessing me with a baby and deeply grateful to Dr Hassoun who handled this pregnancy and made it possible for us to be parents again.”