Actor Sanjay Dutt, and wife Maanayata have become proud parents to twins — a baby boy and baby girl — two weeks before they were expected to, and the couple’s close friend, actor Ameesha Patel, calls it the ideal Diwali gift.“I know how much both of them wanted the babies... this is the best Diwali gift we could have got,” she says. Maanayata, 32, had a caesarean delivery at 1.30pm on Thursday. “Maana is heavily sedated. She will spend Diwali in the hospital. No one can see or meet the babies for the next 15 days. They are healthy, but fragile because they came two weeks earlier,” Patel adds.
Maanayata went into labour at 10:30 in the morning, and Sanjay’s sisters Priya and Namrata, and his secretary, Dharam Oberoi, rushed her to the hospital. “All of Sanjay and Maanayata’s relatives were there,” Patel says.
The babies coming early was a surprise to everyone, Patel reveals. “Sanju was in Dubai. He flew in on Thursday night after he got the news. I’m glad there is a baby girl I can doll up in pink. Sanju wanted a boy. We both got our wish.”
Patel says she is at a loss for what to gift Maana. “She has prepared so well for the next seven months — everything from diapers, clothes to baby bottles,” says the actor. “I have named the girl Ameesha from my side. Although Maana has not spoken about it, I know that she has secretly thought of two baby girl names and two baby boy names.” Meanwhile, celebrities, including Shilpa Shetty, Farah Khan Ali and Sophie Choudry, wished the couple.
Maanayata gave birth in the same Breach Candy Hospital, Juhu, Bombay where Ameesha also born.
Why did Maanayata, who resides in Bandra, choose Breach Candy, which is all the way in South Mumbai? In her case, the gynaecologist looking after her during her pregnancy asked her to get admitted to Breach Candy.
"The baby care available at the hospital is the best. Thus, even when she was gradually setting into labour, we asked her to get admitted to Breach Candy only," said Dr Indira Hinduja, a gynaecologist.
"Her baby girl and boy have been kept under observation in the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
"The baby care available at the hospital is the best. Thus, even when she was gradually setting into labour, we asked her to get admitted to Breach Candy only," said Dr Indira Hinduja, a gynaecologist.
"Her baby girl and boy have been kept under observation in the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
Maanayata is doing fine and has asked for a single room next to the NICU so that she can be close to her children."
The babies weigh 1.4 and 1.6 kg respectively. Currently, two nurses are stationed for the twins at the NICU at any given time.
Maanayata only has one nurse taking care of her. She underwent a C-section, but is absolutely fine," she said.
Confidence?
Dr Geeta Koppikar, medical director, Breach Candy Hospital, said, "The confidence that people have in the hospital, coupled with our medical expertise and the hospital's ambience, pulls people towards us.
We do not, however, distinguish between celebrities and the common man."
Even Lilavati Hospital has seen a host of celebrity patients in the recent past. "Earlier, it was only one hospital that catered to the elites in the city.
But now, many celebrities are opting for Lilavati too. One of the reasons for this might be our convenient location," said Dr Nandita Palshetkar, gynaecologist, Lilavati Hospital.
