Miracle baby girl is UK's first born after womb transplant in medical breakthrough

This miracle baby girl is the first UK child born after a womb - in a medical breakthrough that will give hope to thousands of women. Parents Grace and Angus Davidson described their daughter Amy Isabel as "the greatest gift we could ever have asked for." The new mum, 36, said: "The moment we saw her was incredible, and both of us just broke down in emotional tears. It's hard to describe, it was elation."

Baby Amy was named after her aunt, who donated the organ to her sister in . Her middle name, Isabel, was chosen for one of the surgeons behind the incredible procedure. dietician Mrs Davidson was born with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKH), a rare condition that affects one in 5,000 women.

Sufferers have an underdeveloped or missing womb but their ovaries are intact and produce eggs and female hormones, making it possible for them to conceive via fertility treatment.

The north London couple underwent treatment to create seven embryos which were frozen before Mrs Davidson received the transplant from her sister, Amy Purdie, 42. The two overlapping surgeries took almost 18 hours.

Several months later, one of the stored embryos was transferred via IVF to Mrs Davidson. Baby Amy arrived on February 27, several weeks early and weighing 4.5lb, following a planned 1.5-hour Caesarean section to ensure a safe, hospital-based delivery.

Mrs Davidson said: "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.

"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.

"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."

Reflecting on the emotional experience of finally holding the child she had dreamed of for so many years, Mrs Davidson added: "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."

Primary school teacher Mrs Purdie, who lives in , has two daughters of her own aged six and 10. She said: "Watching Grace and Angus become parents has been an absolute joy and worth every moment.

"It was very natural. When she mentioned that there was this opportunity, immediately both me and my older sister, Laura, and our mum - we all said we would do it. There was no question about it."

Mrs Davidson said baby Amy was sleepy for the first couple of weeks and had "a bit of jaundice" but she is now stronger and more alert.

The couple "definitely" want to have another child. A transplanted womb should last five years, which is enough for two pregnancies, although surgeons would advise against having three babies, in part due to the long-term effects of immunosuppressants on the mother's .

Estimates suggest there are 15,000 women in the UK of childbearing age who do not have a functioning womb.

The world's first successful womb transplant was carried out in 2013 in Gothenburg in Sweden and around 50 babies have since been born to women who have undergone the procedure.

Mrs Davidson was diagnosed as having no womb when she was 19. Her consultant said womb transplants may be available within her lifetime, and she later became one of 10 women chosen from hundreds for a trial that was using deceased donors.

Research into living donors was progressing and after years of waiting she eventually received the transplant from her sister.

Mrs Davidson and her husband, 37, always had "a quiet hope" that it would be a success. She said: "It was quite a long run up to the transplant, maybe eight years or so, and we kept thinking it might get ruled out for various reasons.

"Once we had the transplant, I think we were hopeful that things were going to work out. But it wasn't really until she arrived that the reality of it sunk in."

She added: "Lots of womb transplants fail in the first two weeks so even just to get to that point was amazing, and having my first period was really amazing, because it showed it was working.

"What helped us through the tough times was sort of thinking this is all going to be worth it. I'm so grateful, it's given us so much."

Mrs Davidson is the only woman in the UK to have a womb transplant from a living donor. Three others have received organs from deceased donors.

Surgeons Professor Richard Smith, clinical lead at the charity Womb Transplant UK and consultant gynaecological surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, and Isabel Quiroga, consultant surgeon at the Oxford Transplant Centre, part of Oxford University Hospitals, led the milestone transplant procedure.

Both were in the operating theatre when Amy was delivered and her parents chose her middle name in honour of Miss Quiroga. Prof Smith, who led the development of womb transplants in the UK, shed tears at the birth.

He said: "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."

Miss Quiroga said: "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."

The transplant was funded by charity Womb Transplant UK at a cost of around £30,000, which covers use of the operating theatre and initial patient care.

Families seeking womb transplants pay for their IVF procedures, while the NHS takes over care of the mother and baby once pregnancy occurs.

Operations are only carried out at times when the NHS is not using the operating theatre, so they do not impact on usual NHS waiting lists.

Dr Melanie Davies, a professor of reproductive medicine and consultant gynaecologist at University College London Hospitals, said Amy's birth was "a fantastic achievement".

She added: "This gives hope to other women who have been born without a womb and may also help some young women who have needed a hysterectomy.

"The only alternative for these women is surrogacy, which is not easy to access and not always acceptable."

England's Chief Midwifery Officer Kate Brintworth said: "I am so delighted that Grace, Angus and their whole family have been able to welcome the miracle of Amy to the world.

"This is a momentous moment in NHS history, and an example of how we are constantly innovating and embracing the latest medical advancements so patients can benefit from groundbreaking care.

"Led by specialist teams from across the NHS, we should all be very proud of the health service's role in this UK first and the hope it will bring to so many women."