A British woman gives birth after UK’s first womb transplant

Grace Davidson, 36, from north London, who was born without a viable womb, received the transplant from her older sister, Amy, in the UK's first womb transplant in 2023.

Baby Amy Isobel, was named after her aunt who made her birth possible and the surgeon who carried out the womb transplant.

The parents Grace and Angus Davidson are delighted. The Davidsons were able to have the transplant through the support of the charity Womb Transplant UK.

Davidson has a rare congenital disorder that affects the female reproductive system. It means she has an underdeveloped vagina and uterus. It's known as MRKH and it occurs when a foetus is developing.

It occurs in about 1 in every 4,500 females at birth.

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

It marks the first time a baby has been born in the UK following a womb transplant - a milestone for medical science, and for the thousands of women who are born without a womb or lose it due to illness.

Grace’s condition meant she was still able to produce eggs.

Before surgery, she and her husband underwent fertility treatment to create embryos for IVF.

“So the consultant that actually diagnosed me told me about it. Which is kind of remarkable because it was sort of at the research stages then, but he kind of said oh you know you’ve got options of surrogacy and adoption and then he said and also womb transplant is something that’s emerging so that might be available in my lifetime, but it certainly didn’t seem like a realistic idea and then I think just after we got married, I probably tried to keep an eye out but there wasn’t that much available I think it was still animal studies and things at that point but after I married I approached the team by email and then after we got married we were narrowed down from a great number of women to ten and that was how we started.”

It was a long and uncertain journey to get to this point.

“We were so desperate for a family so I was constantly you know trying to get comfortable with another alternative that might offer us that… because there was no guarantees with this at all. But I just knew there was such a longing in me to carry my own baby and to have that with me and Angus through a pregnancy and to know her from the earliest moment and it’s just like an innate thing I just couldn’t satisfy that through other ways and yes it’s just brought me immense joy.”

The couple say they always knew having children would be challenging, but it didn’t make the reality any easier.

Angus Davidson says: “I’m probably similar to Grace in terms of her getting the diagnosis it’s kind of hard to process really at that point because you know it’s important, you know it’s important for the future and it’s not something you’re dealing with right now but yes, probably shared some of those feelings of sadness or hollowness about that.”

The transplant was performed by a specialist surgical team led by Professor Richard Smith and Isabel Quiroga.

Grace’s sister Amy, a mother of two, was the living donor. The decision was supported by her family.

Isabel Quiroga says: “I’m a transplant surgeon I’m involved in donation and the transplantation of organs that are life saving. This is not lifesaving however it is a transplant that’s totally life enhancing, life transforming and of course life creating and that is magnificent.”

Baby Amy’s middle name honours the lead surgeon.

Her first name honours the woman who made her birth possible - Grace’s sister, Amy Purdie.

“I think when you’ve watched somebody just so deeply devastated and Grace is such a humble unassuming character, she’s shy she would rarely ask for anything. I mean there’s nothing Grace can’t achieve herself it would . appear, and so Grace never really asked any of us, she didn’t have to and that was the most difficult thing for her so. I think to separate it I was having my family but my husband and I knew that we had no desire to have more than two we felt so grateful and actually Grace had always been the most maternal,” says Amy.

Becoming a mum is something Grace thought might never be possible and the reality is still sinking in.

“I sort of struggle to say ‘you're a mum’ I don’t know why but that’s hard to come to terms with to be honest but yes it’s slowly sinking in and it’s lovely because I’ve… I didn’t recognise this for a number of years but I’ve always been very nurturing and I had so many motherly instincts but I’ve just had to suppress them because it was too painful.”

Womb Transplant UK has now carried out four procedures.

Globally, more than 100 womb transplants have taken place, and over 50 babies have been born.

For the Davidsons, it’s a breakthrough that gave them their daughter, and the hope is for many others in the future.