New Delhi: Amanda Gruenell was born without a uterus and successfully gave birth to a healthy baby girl in March this year. This improbable phenomenon was made possible due to uterus transplantation.
Amanda, who is 32 years old, discovered she doesn’t have a uterus at the age of 17 - when she was missing her periods and visited a doctor for diagnosis. A uterus is a hollow, pear-shaped organ located in the female pelvis in which fertilization of an egg and sperm into an embryo takes place. This embryo is later developed into a baby in uterus.
“When I was 16, I could relate something was wrong. I wasn't getting my periods. By the time I was 17, we found out that I did not have a uterus. I remember doctors telling me that I'll never be able to have kids to be able to have the option to a uterus transplant - it's incredible,” Amanda told Inside Edition.
Amanda, who wanted to become a mother, registered herself into Cleveland Clinic’s uterine transplantation trial program, after a friend's recommendation. Around the same time, her mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
Amanda recalls her mother’s dream of seeing her becoming a mother. “I met your daughter. Her name is Grace, and she looks just like you,” Amanda’s mother Janet told her.
Amanda received uterus from a deceased woman and had a successful uterus transplantation done. After that, with the help of IVF (in vitro fertilisation) process, she was impregnated and later gave birth to a baby girl, who she named Grace.
Baby Grace weighed 6 pounds, 11 ounces at the time of birth.
