Two women give birth with wombs donated by their mothers

Two women have given birth after receiving wombs donated by their own mothers, The Telegraph reports.

The pair became the first ever to give birth to children using the very womb that brought them into the world a generation earlier.

The two mothers are among nine women to have been given womb transplants – seven of which have succeeded.

The babies – both boys – were born a month ago in Sweden and are doing well with their mothers at home.

Henrik Hagberg, a professor of foetal medicine at Kings College London, who was at the first birth, paid tribute to the grandmothers who had hysterectomies to donate their 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.”

The extraordinary procedure, which doctors have likened in importance to the first successful heart transplant, means each womb will have carried two generations of the same family.

Both babies were delivered by C-section around a month early.

The news gives hope to Britain’s estimated 15,000 childless women and provides a boost for a similar project in the UK in which 60 women are waiting for a new womb.

Many women will have been born without the organ, others will have had a hysterectomy because of cancer or as a last-ditch attempt stop life-threatening bleeding during labour.

Eventually, the technique could also be used on women who have suffered the agony of repeated miscarriages. Using a donated womb also means that expectant mothers can have babies that are genetically their own and experience the joys of pregnancy.

Doctors in Turkey and Saudi Arabia have carried out womb transplants before – but none has so far led to a birth. Teams in the US, China and Australia are also keen to start their own programmes.

The Swedes have carried out nine womb transplants – and seven of the women have had IVF treatment.

Professor Brännström said the birth provides scientific evidence that the technique works, adding: ‘It gives us scientific evidence that the concept of uterus transplantation can be used to treat uterine factor infertility, which up to now has remained the last untreatable form of female infertility.

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