First UK baby born after womb transplant: Hugo Powell delivered in London

A boy, Hugo, became the first British baby to be born out of a womb transplant, a phenomenon which is termed by Grace Bell as “simply a miracle”. Grace Bell was born without a womb. She doesn't have periods, but does have normal ovaries- a condition known as Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MKRH) syndrome. She had only two ways to carry her own child: one was surrogacy, and the second was to hope for a womb transplant.

The donor of the womb for Bell was a deceased lady. Womb transplant is an extremely rare procedure, and it took 10 hours for Bell to transplant the womb at The Churchill Hospital in Oxford in June 2024. Only 70 babies have been born out of a womb transplant across the world, only two from Europe and only thirty from the womb of a deceased lady.

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The donor has donated five other organs, which were transplanted into four other people. The parents of the donor wish to remain annonymous said, “Through organ donation, she has given other families the precious gift of time, hope, healing and now life. As her parents, we feel tremendous pride at the legacy she leaves behind – a legacy of compassion, courage and love that continues to touch lives even after her passing.”

Hugo Powell was delivered at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea hospital in London, weighing 3.09kg (6lb 13oz) just ahead of Christmas. He is now 10 weeks old. Grace said she remembers when Hugo was born, "It was simply a miracle. I remember waking up in the morning and seeing his little face, with his little dummy in, and it felt like I needed to wake up from a dream. It was just incredible."

The couple, Grace and Steve has named the middle name Richard, after Prof Richard Smith, the clinical lead at the charity Womb Transplant UK and a consultant gynaecological surgeon at the Imperial College Healthcare NHS trust. He started researching womb transplantation more than 25 years ago and was present at Hugo's birth. The couple might plan to conceive another baby, after which surgeons will remove the transplanted womb. This is to save Bell from taking lifetime drugs to prevent the body's immune system from attacking the transplant organ.