Cliff Notes – First child in UK to be born from womb transplant
- A baby girl named Amy Isabel was born in the UK as the first child resulting from a womb transplant, performed on her mother, Grace Davidson, in 2023.
- The successful procedure, involving a donated womb from Grace’s sister, offers hope for women with conditions like Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser syndrome, enabling them to carry a pregnancy.
- The birth signifies progress in womb transplantation as a viable medical procedure, with ongoing discussions about its ethical implications and future applications.
Baby girl becomes first child in UK to be born from womb transplant | UK News
A baby girl has become the first child in the UK to be born from a womb transplant.
Grace Davidson, who received the transplant in 2023, said the birth of her daughter Amy Isabel was the “greatest gift we could ever have asked for”.
The 36-year-old, from north London, received the donated womb from her older sister, Amy.
It was the first time the procedure had taken place in the UK, and the birth will give hope to thousands of women born without a womb – like those with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome – or whose womb fails to function.
Amy Isabel was named after her aunt, and a surgeon who helped perfect the technique, and was born by planned caesarean section on 27 February at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital in London.
Mrs Davidson, an NHS dietitian, said she felt “shock” when she first held her daughter, adding: “We have been given the greatest gift we could ever have asked for.
“It was just hard to believe she was real. I knew she was ours, but it’s just hard to believe.
“It sort of feels like there’s a completeness now where there maybe wasn’t before.”
Her husband Angus, 37, said: “The moment we saw her was incredible, and both of us just broke down in emotional tears – it’s hard to describe, it was elation.
“It had been such a long wait. We’d been intending to have a family somehow since we were married, and we’ve kind of been on this journey for such a long time.”
Rare condition affects one in 5,000 women
Mrs Davidson was born with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser, a rare condition that affects around one in every 5,000 women. It means they have an underdeveloped or missing womb.
However, the ovaries are intact and still function to produce eggs and female hormones, making conceiving via fertility treatment a possibility.
How the procedure worked
Before receiving the donated womb, Mrs Davidson and her husband underwent fertility treatment to create seven embryos, which were frozen for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) in central London.
Mrs Davidson had surgery in February 2023 to receive the womb from her 42-year-old sister Amy Purdie, who is a mother to two girls aged 10 and six.
Several months later, one of the stored embryos was transferred via IVF to Mrs Davidson.
The baby weighed 4.5lbs and was delivered several weeks early to ensure a safe, hospital-based delivery.
Ms Purdie called the birth of her niece “worth every moment”.
