Surrogate mom sees her premature son, dies soon after

Renting out her womb to a US couple cost Amraiwadi resident Premila Vaghela, 36, her life. Trying to give a child to the couple, she died on Monday leaving her two sons motherless. But, her family has refused to demand compensation for her death.

Meanwhile, the irony could not be starker. While there is gloom on one side, there is reason to rejoice too. Three days later, it was an emotional scene at Arpan New Born care Centre in Navrangpura as Helen- the biological mother of the boy Vaghela delivered prematurely-saw her son for the first time on Thursday.

Onlookers said Helen looked tired and gloomy after her flight, but when she saw the baby in the incubator tears welled up in her eyes. Dr Ashish Mehta in whose clinic baby is under treatment, said:  "The baby will remain in the incubator for a few more days as he is pre-mature. He weighs around 1.74 kg but there is no threat to his life."

On the other side, Premila's family has slipped in gloom. All they could say is that they do not want anything from anyone. Premila's mother, more than 80 years old, had anger in her voice. "I have lost my daughter. Now, we don't want anything from anybody," she said.

However, doctors at Pulse Hospital, where Premila was undergoing treatment, said that they would request the biological parents to give more compensation to Premila's family than the contractual money of Rs3 lakh.

Talking about the incident at the hospital, Dr Pravin Patel said that she was admitted in the hospital for four days after complaint of pain in the stomach. While she was waiting with her husband for a routine check-up, she got a sudden convulsion and had to be shifted to the operation theatre. "We controlled her fluctuating blood pressure twice and also revived her," he said. 
Doctor said, as Premila's blood pressure was low, the foetus received less blood and oxygen.