Derya Sert, a married housewife from Turkey, was born without a womb. In August, 2011, she was the first woman to be given a successful womb transplant. Derya had to wait 18 months after receiving her new uterus before doctors were willing to start fertility treatments. Last week, she finally had her very first embryo implantation – an egg from Derya fertilized by her husband’s sperm.
Professor Omer Ozkan, the doctor who implanted the embryo, said that pregnancy results should arrive within days. News of the test results will likely be released to the world by Wednesday. Married to 35-year-old Mustafa Sert, Derya is hopeful that the results will be positive.
“If I had a magic wand, I would want to be pregnant now. I just want to hold my baby in my arms, to be a mother,” Derya told Daily Mail UK.
But Derya isn’t the only one hopeful for a positive result. Thousands of other women across the world without a uterus and desperate for a baby are hoping the very same thing. And, according to British doctors, if Derya’s pregnancy ends up being successful, it could mean that all those women have a good chance at someday getting their wish to carry a baby of their own. And someday could come as soon as two years from now.
Granted, there are other options for having a baby. However, those options are not without complication. If these women choose a surrogate, they miss out on the experience of carrying their own baby. And in some countries, like France and Germany, surrogacy is illegal. Adoption – an option in which the parents give up having a baby that is genetically theirs – is lengthy and difficult process to go through, not to mention the extremely long waiting period to get a baby.
With a uterus implantation, women are able to have a baby that is their own genetically, and they are able to experience pregnancy for themselves. And though the waiting period before pregnancy can be attempted is somewhat long, it is not nearly as long as some adoption processes. So though a uterus transplant may not be the right option for everyone, it may be the perfect option, should it be successful, for many, many others.
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