Just two months after a mom in Sweden welcomed a baby from a donated womb, two women have followed – giving birth to two healthy baby boys!
In January Dr. Mats Brännström chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Gothenburg announced that his team had transplanted nine wombs into nine women who were either born without a uterus or had it removed because of cervical cancer.
In a world first one of the women gave birth to a baby boy in September. The baby, who is only known as Vincent, was delivered by caesarian section at 31 weeks weighing 3.9 lbs.
This week it was revealed that two more of the moms in Dr. Brännström’s Gothenburg University project have delivered babies that were carried in the donated wombs. But what makes their births ever more incredible, is the fact that wombs were donated by the babies’ grandmothers.
The first baby, who weighed 5lb 8oz, was born to a 29-year-old Swedish woman who was born without a womb. The mother of the second baby, also a boy, had her womb removed when she was treated for cancer. Her baby weighed 5lb 15oz. Doctors noted that both of the babies were delivered about a month early.
In January Dr. Brännström noted that the moms with the transplanted wombs would only have them for two pregnancies – after which the wombs will be removed so that the women could stop taking the anti-rejection drugs for the transplant. The drugs, they say, could cause high blood pressure, swelling and diabetes and may also raise the risk of some types of cancer.
The news of the births brings hope to couples around the world who are struggling to conceive. MRKH is said to affect one woman in every 4,500. UK doctors are planning to launch a similar program using wombs from deceased donors. Richard Smith, head of charity Womb Transplant UK says the first transplant could be carried out as soon as next summer.
