Womb transplant baby’s parents speak of their joy
THE PARENTS of the first baby to be born from a transplanted womb have spoken of their delight at their son’s arrival.
The birth took place after surgeons at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden performed the pioneering procedure last year. The baby was delivered by caesarean section in the 31st week of pregnancy and weighed 1.76kg — normal for that stage of pregnancy. Mother and child are now at home and said to be doing well.
The identity of the parents, who are both professional athletes, has not been released, but the baby’s father said: “It was a pretty tough journey over the years, but we now have the most amazing baby.
“He’s no different from any other child, but he will have a good story to tell. One day he can look at the newspaper articles about how he was born and know that he was the first in the world to be born this way.”
The father spoke as the first picture of the baby was published amid widespread excitement over a procedure which offers renewed hope to thousands of infertile women around the world.
British experts are preparing to carry out a similar procedure next year, which could help 15 000 women who suffer from the same type of infertility.
The birth of the Swedish baby is understood to have taken place within the past month, after doctors transplanted wombs into several women who had a rare
genetic condition that meant they were born without their own womb.
In January, one of those patients underwent IVF treatment. The donated womb came from a 61-year-old woman, a family friend who had gone through menopause after giving birth to two children.
The 35-year-old mother is a patient of Mats Brannstrom, a professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the Sahlgrenska Academy in Gothenburg.
The Swedish woman had to take three medicines to prevent her body from rejecting the new organ. After one year, when doctors were confident the womb was working well, they transferred an embryo created in a laboratory dish using the woman’s eggs and her husband’s sperm.
The woman, who has only one kidney, had three mild rejection episodes, including one during pregnancy, but all were successfully treated with medicines. The baby’s growth and blood flow to the womb and umbilical cord were normal until the 31st week of pregnancy, when the mother developed preeclampsia, a dangerous high-bloodpressure condition.
After an abnormal foetal heart rate was detected, the baby was delivered by caesarean section.
The operation, follow-up and immunosuppressant drugs cost £100 000 (R1.81-million).
Prof Brannstrom, who delivered the baby with the help of his wife, a midwife, said: “The baby is fantastic. But it is even better to see the joy in the parents and how happy he made them.”
Richard Smith, a consultant gynaecological surgeon at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital in London, said he was preparing to carry out similar operations in Britain next year.