World first as mother's womb is transplanted to daughter so she can give birth
Greatest gift a mum can give to her daughter. Two women have given birth using wombs donated by their own mothers. The pair become the first ever to have children using the very womb that brought them into the world a generation earlier.
The breakthrough brings hope to women who want children but were born without a womb or have had it removed.
The two mothers are among nine women to have been given womb transplants – seven of which have succeeded.
Allan Pacey of the British Fertility Society said: ‘That’s a very good success rate for a new surgical procedure. If it carries on like this, it may have a massive impact on things like surrogacy.
‘Women would much prefer to have their own baby and be pregnant than watch another woman be pregnant.’
The babies – both boys – were born a month ago in Sweden and are doing well with their mothers at home.
Henrik Hagberg, a professor in foetal medicine at King’s College London, who was at the first birth, praised the grandmothers who had hysterectomies to donate wombs to their daughters.
‘It is an absolutely extraordinary gift. It is probably the best thing you can do for your daughter,’ he said.
‘The mothers were still very much doubting whether things would really go well. You don’t take anything for granted when you have experienced all of the problems they have been through.’
The first child, who weighed 5lb 8oz, was born to a 29-year-old Swede who lacked a womb at birth.
