Cleveland Clinic Makes It Possible for Woman Born Without Uterus to Deliver Baby

Then 16-year-old Michelle never thought she would ever have a baby. At that age, she and her doctors found that she was born without a uterus.

As a teenage girl then, her hopes to have a family as an adult disappeared. She said that never did she imagine that 15 years later, she would have Cole, her baby boy in her arms, whom she carried and delivered in March this year.

Michelle said she did not think it was indeed possible. She added that she thought her mind was just playing tricks on her.

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Pregnancy Made Possible 

Michelle's pregnancy was made possible through, of course, a uterus. She became pregnant through in-vitro fertilization.

Meanwhile, reports also stated that transplant and birth are part of Cleveland Clinic's current clinical test.

In 2019, Cleveland Clinic became the first North American hospital to deliver a baby from a transplanted uterus, which came from a deceased donor.

Physician Dr. Uma Perni, who piloted the transplant procedure, said it was exciting to help give women like Michelle the chance to experience motherhood.

For the most part, the physician also shared that Michelle's pregnancy went quite the same as a regular or routine pregnancy.

When the baby was delivered, Dr. Perni described it as appearing as an ordinary C-section done every day in the delivery room.

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Not an Easy Process

Michelle admitted that the process she went through was not fast and easy. Since she got listed in the fall of 2017, she did not receive any call saying she was a candidate for the transplant until 2019.

She first went through the IVF process and ensured that there were embryos for the transplanted uterus. Following this procedure, Michelle got listed and underwent the transplant once the donor became available. 

Uterus recipients need to stay on immunosuppressant or antirejection medications, after which would be the transfer of the embryo, pregnancy, then the delivery. With all these that she had to go through, Michelle said, "Every single step was worth it."

Factor Infertility

Based on an estimate by the Cleveland Clinic, one in every 500 women of childbearing age globally is affected by the rare condition also known as factor infertility from which, a woman is incapable of getting pregnant because it is either she does not have a uterus or her uterus is not properly functioning anymore.

According to Dr. Perni, the test was first sanctioned for ten transplants, and so far, eight have been conducted. 

Furthermore, the physician also said, two transplants have not succeeded, two live births proceeded, and four women presently have working transplants currently in the process of transferring the embryo.

The medical expert also said she expects the trial to offer hope to women all over the world. These are women who cannot have a baby because they experience uterine factor infertility.

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