Baby girl makes history as first child born in the UK from a transplanted womb

The news gives hope to thousands of women born without a womb or whose womb fails to function.

A baby girl has made history as the first child in the UK to be born from a womb transplant.

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

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

The news gives hope to thousands of women born without a womb or whose womb fails to function.

Mrs Davidson, 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 and Angus Davidson with Amy under blossom trees — Grace and Angus Davidson with Amy (Womb Transplant UK/PA)

Mrs Davidson 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…

“Our family are just so happy for us. It sort of feels like there’s a completeness now where there maybe wasn’t before.”

Amy Isabel Davidson — Mrs Davidson said she felt ‘shock’ when she first held her daughter (Womb Transplant UK/PA)

Mrs Davidson was born with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-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, Mrs Davidson and her husband underwent fertility treatment to create seven embryos, which were frozen for IVF in central London.

Grace Davidson holding Amy — Grace Davidson was born with the rare condition Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (Womb Transplant UK/PA)

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

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

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

Mrs Davidson and her baby stayed in hospital for about a week to establish breastfeeding.

Grace Davidson and Amy Purdie with baby Amy — Amy Purdie, right, donated her womb to her sister, Grace, to enable the birth of the niece who shares her name (Womb Transplant UK/PA)

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.

“She had a bit of jaundice to start with, and she needed a bit of light therapy, but she’s a stronger feeder now, and she’s more alert.

“She will kind of wake herself up when she wants a feed, which is nice.”

Amy seconds after she was delivered by Caesarean section — Amy was born by Caesarean section at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital in London in February (Womb Transplant UK/PA)

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

Mr Davidson said the moment his daughter arrived was very emotional.

“She came out crying, and we were a bit worried she would be whisked off to an antenatal ward, but she’s been with us every minute of her life so we’re so grateful for that,” he said.

“It had been such a long wait. We’d been intending to have a family somehow since we were married, and we’ve kind of been on this journey for such a long time.