First UK Baby Born After Womb Transplant Marks Milestone in Medical History
- Victor Nwoko
- Apr 8
- 3 min read
In a landmark medical breakthrough, a woman in the UK has become the first to give birth following a womb transplant, offering renewed hope to women born without a uterus or with uterine infertility.
Grace Davidson, 36, who was diagnosed as a teenager with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome — a rare congenital condition affecting about one in every 5,000 women — successfully gave birth to a baby girl on 27 February via planned caesarean section at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital in London. Her ovaries remained functional, allowing her to undergo fertility treatment and create embryos for IVF.
The newborn, named Amy Isabel, weighed 2.04kg (4.5lb) and was delivered in the presence of the medical team that helped make the birth possible. The baby’s name is a tribute to two key figures in her journey: Grace’s sister, Amy Purdie, who donated her womb in an eight-hour surgery in 2023, and Isabel Quiroga, a transplant surgeon instrumental in developing the technique.
Davidson described the moment she held her daughter for the first time as surreal. “It was just hard to believe she was real. I knew she was ours, but it’s just hard to believe,” she said. She and her husband, Angus Davidson, 37, had long held a “quiet hope” that the transplant would allow them to become parents, but the reality only truly set in once their daughter arrived.
The womb transplant, led by Womb Transplant UK and funded by charitable support, marks the culmination of 25 years of research spearheaded by Professor Richard Smith, clinical lead at the organization. Smith, a consultant gynecological surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, was in the operating theatre for both the transplant and the birth. “I feel great joy actually, unbelievable – 25 years down the line from starting this research, we finally have a baby, little Amy Isabel. Astonishing, really astonishing,” he said.
Surgeon Isabel Quiroga of the Oxford Transplant Centre described the experience as overwhelmingly joyful. “For me, it’s total joy, delight. I couldn’t be happier for Angus and Grace, what a wonderful couple. It was overwhelming actually, it remains overwhelming. It’s fantastic.”
Davidson and her husband had created seven embryos through IVF in central London before the transplant. After receiving her sister’s womb in February 2023, one of the embryos was successfully implanted months later.
Angus Davidson described the birth as a deeply emotional experience. “Having waited such a long time, it’s kind of odd getting your head around that this is the moment where you are going to meet your daughter,” he said. “The room was full of people who have helped us on the journey to actually having Amy. We had been kind of suppressing emotion, probably for 10 years, and you don’t know how that’s going to come out – ugly crying, it turns out! The room was just so full of love and joy and all these people that had a vested interest in Amy for incredible medical and science reasons. But the lines between that and the love for our family and for Amy are very much blurred – it felt like a room full of love. The moment we saw her was incredible, and both of us just broke down in emotional tears.”
Amy Purdie, who has two daughters aged 10 and six, said the experience of helping her sister become a mother had been profoundly rewarding. “It’s been an absolute joy and worth every moment,” she said.
Davidson took immunosuppressant medication throughout her pregnancy to prevent rejection of the transplanted womb. She expressed her desire to have another child in the future.
So far, more than 100 womb transplants have been performed globally, resulting in at least 50 births. In the UK, three additional transplants using deceased donors have taken place, and medical teams hope these recipients will also be able to carry pregnancies. Around 10 more women are currently undergoing approval for a £25,000 transplant procedure funded by Womb Transplant UK. Hundreds more have expressed interest, and the charity holds permission for 10 transplants from deceased donors and five from living donors. There is hope that the NHS will eventually fund the procedure.
The first successful birth following a womb transplant occurred in Sweden in 2014. The baby, named Vincent, was born to a 36-year-old woman who described him as “perfect.” Now, with the arrival of Amy Isabel, the UK joins the list of nations where science and medicine have redefined the possibilities of parenthood.
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