After transplant, woman gives birth to baby in her own mother's womb

During the birth of her first child, Australian Kristy Bryant experienced serious complications and had to have her uterus removed. At the time, the young woman felt her dream of having more children was over. But in an unusual situation, made possible by medical and scientific innovations, she ended up becoming the recipient of a new transplanted uterus: her own mother's.

The procedure was the first performed in Australia and was part of a landmark clinical trial at the Royal Hospital for Women in Sydney. Uterus transplantation itself is already considered a medical breakthrough, as it's not yet a common procedure.

In Kristy's case, where the organ donor was her own mother, Michelle, 54, the story took on even more impressive contours.

In 2021, while giving birth to her first daughter, Violet, Kristy suffered a severe hemorrhage and had to undergo an emergency hysterectomy (surgery to remove the uterus) and was told she would not be able to have another child.

Eventually, Bryant learned about a study at the Royal Hospital for Women on uterus transplants. When she discussed the topic and the possibility of a transplant with her mother, her response was quick. "She said 'yes' without hesitation," she said .

And that's how the two entered this experience . "I had my mother's womb—the one I had grown in as a baby—inside me. It was incredible," she revealed to ABC Australia.

Despite agreeing to donate her organ, Michelle said she was initially surprised: “I asked, ‘Is this serious? Does this exist?’” The mother, who readily agreed to help her daughter , said: “She’s not just my daughter, she’s my best friend and I would do anything to help her on her journey.”

The transplant was performed in January 2023. Months later, the good news arrived: the uterus that had grown Kristy was now welcoming a new life. The treatment was successful, and the young woman announced she was pregnant with her second child.

In December 2023, she gave birth to Henry, a healthy baby boy who developed in the same womb as his own mother. "After my hysterectomy, I desperately longed for another child and felt like I didn't have many options. It's been a turbulent year, and having Henry here, safe, is beyond anything I thought possible," she told a local website at the time of her pregnancy.

On social media, she wrote: "I feel incredibly lucky to be able to be part of such groundbreaking research. Henry and I are doing well. My family and I would like to thank everyone involved in making this clinical trial and our dream a reality."