Baby girl becomes first in to born from a womb transplant

Grace Davidson, 36, from north London, received the organ from her older sister, Amy, in the UK’s first womb transplant in 2023.

Following the success of the procedure, she has given birth to baby Amy Isabel, named after her aunt, a surgeon who helped perfect the technique.

The birth makes history and gives hope to thousands of women born without a womb or whose womb fails to function.

Baby Amy Isabel Davidson. (Image: Womb Transplant UK)

Baby marks first birth from a womb transplant in the UK

Grace, an NHS dietitian, and her husband, Angus, 37, who works in finance, are over the moon with their new arrival.

Baby Amy was born by planned NHS Caesarean section on February 27 at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital in London.

Grace said she felt “shock” when she first held her daughter, adding: “We have been given the greatest gift we could ever have asked for.”

She told the PA news agency: “It was just hard to believe she was real. I knew she was ours, but it’s just hard to believe.”

The new mother was born with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH), a rare condition that affects around one in every 5,000 women, meaning they have an underdeveloped or missing womb.

However, the ovaries are intact and still function to produce eggs and female hormones, making conceiving via fertility treatment a possibility.

Before receiving the donated womb, Grace and her husband underwent fertility treatment to create seven embryos, which were frozen for IVF in central London.

She then had surgery in February 2023 to receive the womb from her sister Amy Purdie, 42, a former primary school teacher, who is the mother of two girls aged 10 and six.

Grace and Angus Davidson with baby Amy Isabel, and her aunt Amy (right). (Image: Womb Transplant UK)

Several months later, one of the stored embryos was transferred via IVF to Grace.

Amy, who weighed 4.5lb, was delivered several weeks early in the planned 90-minute Caesarean section, to ensure a safe, hospital-based delivery.

The new mother said, “The first couple of weeks were tricky because she was so sleepy, and we were struggling to kind of keep her awake enough for her feed, but she’s doing really well.”

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She added: “It’s lovely to be at this stage where we can get snuggles and it’s really special.”

Grace was diagnosed as having no womb when she was 19, and found out about womb transplants at the same time.

The new mother now hopes women in a similar situation will have more options going forward.