PICTORIAL: UK records first baby born after womb transplant

A British woman has given birth to a healthy baby girl after having her sister’s womb transplanted into her, becoming UK’s first that could benefit thousands more women, Daily Mail reports.

Grace Davidson, 36, who was reportedly born without a womb, and husband Angus, 37, have described welcoming their girl child, Amy Isabel, into the world on the February 27 as “the greatest gift we could ever have asked for.”

Grace was said to have discovered that she had Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser Syndrome at the at of 19.

The syndrome is a condition of the reproductive system which means women are born with no womb or an under developed womb.

A team of 20 doctors and nurses were said to be on hand for the caesarean section birth at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital in London, in case of complications, but Amy was born healthy weighing 2.06kg (4.5 pounds) and needed no specialist care.

Amy’s entrance into the world, on February 27, came three weeks earlier than planned as Grace’s cervix started to shorten – a possible sign that labour was imminent.

Her medical team decided to proceed with an ‘abundance of caution’, as they wanted to reduce strain on the transplanted womb with a caesarean delivery before Grace went into labour.

Grace, a dietitian from north London, described holding her baby for the first time as “beyond amazing.”

“It was without any doubt, the best day of our lives. Full of joy, so much happiness and tears. I had longed to be a mum for so long,” she told the Daily Mail.

The baby was named in honour of Grace’s sister Amy Purdie, 42, a mother of two who donated her womb to her sister in February 2023.

Amy was said to have endured eight hours of surgery and weeks of recovery to donate her womb but described giving the couple the chance to have a baby as “a huge privilege” despite not liking “hospitals needles or blood.”

The baby’s middle name honours Isabel Quiroga, a consultant from the transplantation and endocrine surgery at The Churchill Hospital, Oxford who co-led the marathon 17-hour surgery to extract and implant the donated womb.

Miss Quiroga, who was present at the delivery, reportedly broke down in tears in the operating theatre when the couple told her of their name plan.

The report added that Professor Richard Smith, a consultant gynaecological surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in London, who co-led the operation with Miss Quiroga said the birth “offered new hope for thousands of women in the UK who would otherwise never have the opportunity to experience the joy of motherhood.”

It was also revealed that the team has now carried out three more womb transplants on women over the past two years this time using wombs donated by deceased donors – another UK first.

“They are all well, menstruating monthly and we are hoping for some pregnancies very soon,” Professor Smith told the Mail.

The couple hope to try or one more child as the womb will e removed within five years so that Grace can stop taking immunosuppressant medication, which can raise the risk of cancer.

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