A Medical First: Woman Successfully Gives Birth With A Donated Womb

October 6, 2014 8:51 AM

In January, we heard that several women in Sweden had received uterine transplants. This weekend, for the first time in history, a woman born without a womb gave birth to a living child.

The recipient and the donor had essentially uneventful postoperative recoveries.

posted by showbiz_liz (16 comments total)

Science, it rocks! Awesome stuff. This was on the beeb at the weekend.
posted by marienbad at 8:55 AM on October 6, 2014

(Just to clarify a thing which initially confused me, this was a cis woman with a uterine transplant. And also the wikipedia article on the syndrome this woman was born with has a startling medical photo at the very top which is only SFW if you are a gynecologist.)
posted by poffin boffin at 8:58 AM on October 6, 2014

Just to clarify a thing which initially confused me, this was a cis woman with a uterine transplant.

Oh right yes. Uterine transplantation has only been attempted on cis women so far in the modern era. (The first link includes the story of a trans woman way back in the 30s who died as a result of a similar, obviously less sophisticated version of the procedure.)
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:04 AM on October 6, 2014

I'm not a doctor...but how would a 61-year old womb be a good choice, considering giving birth after the early 40's becomes a little dicey? But, hey, it worked. Cigars all the way around.
posted by kozad at 9:35 AM on October 6, 2014

I heard about this on the BBC a few days ago and it really is amazing what medical science can do these days. Boggles the mind.

What marienbad said.
posted by Fizz at 9:36 AM on October 6, 2014

I'm not a doctor...but how would a 61-year old womb be a good choice, considering giving birth after the early 40's becomes a little dicey? But, hey, it worked. Cigars all the way around.

I think the issues with older women giving birth are mostly related to the age of the eggs and the generally less-healthy condition of the body as a whole. It isn't the uterus itself that causes problems.
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:40 AM on October 6, 2014 [3 favorites]

Additionally, the drugs used to prevent rejection are potentially harmful in the long term; if this new mom doesn't plan on trying to have another child soon, it would make sense for her to have her new womb removed.

IDK how I missed this on the first read thru but OMG HOW FUCKING RAD WOULD THAT BE. Detachable uterus, only put it on when you are ready to make the babby, get rid of it in the interim.

this is what i want for the future of the human race, fuck those stupid flying cars
posted by poffin boffin at 9:42 AM on October 6, 2014 [15 favorites]

what's the outlook on siring children with transplanted dicks? i heard a few years back that a doctor in italy was doing these transplants. i'm not gonna live forever, and some lucky guy...
posted by bruce at 9:49 AM on October 6, 2014 [2 favorites]

Oh, lab-grown penises will soon be tested in humans. They supposedly can only be grown for cis men with penile amputations, using samples taken from the various layers of penile tissue--though since all human genitals are variations on the same phalloclitorial form, I don't see why this couldn't be extended to trans men some day.

SImilarly, the uterine transplant was performed in an intersex woman, and there's no talk of the procedure being offered to trans women, but I see no reason why it couldn't be in the future.
posted by DrMew at 10:02 AM on October 6, 2014

Detachable uterus? Aren't our genetalia weird enough without bringing LEGO into the mix?
posted by sexyrobot at 11:06 AM on October 6, 2014

What would concern me most would be the effect of rejection-suppression drugs on the pregnancy.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:57 AM on October 6, 2014 [1 favorite]

Does this mean that someday, I might finally be able to have my damnably fully-functional uterus removed and, rather than being treated like a pariah who has utterly failed to perform womanhood correctly because I do not ever want to give birth or take care of a child, I'll get to be treated like a selfless, generous organ donor instead?

Because YES PLEASE. I'm already ginning up my outbound Craigslist post.

Spoiler alert: Don't read the last link over lunch -- "fully necrotic uterus," nooooooooooooooo
posted by divined by radio at 1:15 PM on October 6, 2014 [9 favorites]

They won't take it out unless there is something wrong with it IME.

[sustained angry hissing]
posted by poffin boffin at 1:32 PM on October 6, 2014

Pregnancy is fucking nuts.
posted by maryr at 5:07 PM on October 6, 2014 [1 favorite]

...I just realized that statement is more accurate than I had intended.
posted by maryr at 7:34 AM on October 7, 2014

insert my obvious feelings here of wanting this.
posted by Annika Cicada at 5:28 PM on October 7, 2014 [1 favorite]