World's First Baby Born Through A Womb Transplant

Vincent, the first baby born to a woman who had a womb transplant, is cradled by his mother in Sweden

 

The woman who gave birth to the world's first womb-transplant baby has revealed that she still cannot believe she is a mother – and hopes he will one day become a doctor.

The 36-year-old woman discovered at 15 that she had no womb and was told she would never carry her own children - but was one of nine women to receive a transplanted womb last year in a trial.

The Swedish parents, who want to remain anonymous, admitted that they had not yet worked out how they will tell their son that he made medical history when he is older

After what they describe as a rollercoaster of a journey, the unnamed Swedish couple finally became parents in September 2014 when the mother gave birth to a healthy but premature baby boy

The happy couple named their son Vincent, which means 'to conquer', to celebrate a victory over their difficult journey to parenthood

The couple went through IVF to produce 11 embryos, which were frozen. Doctors at the University of Gothenburg then performed the womb transplant.
The donor was a 61-year-old family friend who had gone through the menopause seven years earlier.
Drugs to suppress the immune system were needed to prevent the womb being rejected.
A year after the transplant, doctors decided they were ready to implant one of the frozen embryos and a pregnancy ensued.
The baby was born prematurely, almost 32 weeks into the pregnancy, after the mother developed pre-eclampsia and the baby's heart rate became abnormal.
Both baby and mum are now said to be doing well

Prof Mats Brannstrom, who led the transplant team, described the birth in Sweden as a joyous moment.
"That was a fantastic happiness for me and the whole team, but it was an unreal sensation also because we really could not believe we had reached this moment.
"Our success is based on more than 10 years of intensive animal research and surgical training by our team and opens up the possibility of treating many young females worldwide that suffer from uterine infertility."
Liza Johannesson, a gynaecological surgeon in the team, said: "It gives hope to those women and men that thought they would never have a child, that thought they were out of hope."


Dr Brannstrom and his team are working with another eight couples with a similar need. The results of those pregnancy attempts will give a better picture of whether this technique can be used more widely.