A woman has been dumped by her husband after they spent 20 years trying to have a baby, when she finally became pregnant as a pensioner aged 60.
The husband changed his mind when he heard the baby screaming in the maternity ward – and told his wife that he was too old to put up with the crying.
Serif Nokic, 68, decided to leave her on the day the baby arrived in Novi Pazar, in western Serbia’s Raska District.
He told his partner, Atifa Ljajic, that newborn daughter Alina would keep him up at night with her crying.
When asked about abandoning new mum Atifa, Serif said: ‘She got what she wanted, now she is happy.’
Serif claims that living with a baby at his age would be too damaging to his health.
Atifa also has health problems, including high blood pressure, but says she is ready to raise her daughter alone.
Serif said: ‘Above all, I am a sick man, I am 68, I am a diabetic and I have a weak heart.
‘It is not easy not to sleep all night and to hear a baby’s cry.’
Atifa was considered a high-risk pregnancy and was in hospital for the three months leading up to giving birth.
Serif claimed that he had gone along with the idea even though he had opposed the pregnancy at first.
But as Atifa held Alina in her arms for the first time, Serif decided he did not want to be with his new family.
Little Alina will not even have his last name as he refused to have her registered as his daughter.
The couple are thought to have used an anonymous sperm donor.
Atifa, who worked in a textile factory, says she will raise her baby by herself even though she has little money.
She is a cousin of Rasim Ljajic, the Minister of Trade and Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia, but says she has no relatives who can help her.
Atifa said: ‘Whatever happens, whether Serif stays or leaves, I will fight to raise Alina the best way I can and to put her on the right way. I will live only for her.
‘I know that it will not be easy but I still believe there are good people who will want to help me.’
As her 60th birthday neared, Atifa had almost given up hope of having children, when doctors told her she was finally expecting a baby following fertility treatment.
Atifa fulfilled her lifelong dream when she successfully gave birth to the healthy baby girl.
She added: ‘I knew it would be a big risk at my age, but my only wish in my life was that I have a child, and it happened to me.
‘I was not afraid of my life at all, God gave me courage. I have never felt better.’
