Lesbian Couple Carries Same Baby In Their Wombs For The First Time In Medical History

One of the reasons why a mother and baby’s relationship is so strong and special, is because she carries them in her womb for nine whole months. But when it comes to lesbian couples, one of them has to make the decision to let her better half carry the baby. Well, not any more.

According to New York Post, in a medical breakthrough, two mothers, Ashleigh Coulter and Bliss Coulter, were able to carry the same baby before giving birth him. Ashleigh said,

“I’m excited to put all this in his baby book!”

The method is called Effortless Reciprocal IVF. This process allowed Bliss to incubate her own embryo. After that the embryo was placed inside Ashleigh, where it grew. In June, she gave birth to Stetson, who was a healthy 3 kgs and 714 grams.

While Ashleigh wanted to be a mother for as long as she could remember, Bliss wasn’t as interested in the concept. However, when she fell in love with Ashleigh and learned from Dr. Kathy Doody that they carry their baby, she went all in. She said,

“It was so exciting knowing that I was growing my own biological child inside of me.”

Bliss’ eggs were harvested and inseminated in August 2017. Then, they were placed in an INVOcell, which was then placed in Bliss’ cervix for five days while the eggs incubated and an embryo formed.

The complicated part was to remove the embryo, place it in Ashleigh’s uterus and wait for 10 days to make sure the transition has worked. Ashleigh said,

“Those were the longest 10 days of our lives — no one had ever done it, so we didn’t know if it was going to work.”

After 10 days of intense waiting, Dr. Doody finally came with the good news that the process was a success. Ashleigh talked about how excited they were saying,

“When we found out we were pregnant, we were more focused on the fact that [we were going to be mothers]. It didn’t cross our minds that we had done something that no one else had done before.”

In a typical IVF, the woman who donates the egg is the one to carry the baby. But in this case, Bliss donated the eggs and Ashleigh carried it to term. That’s why it ended up costing them almost 50% less than what it takes for a traditional IVF.

Ashleigh lauded the doctors for coming up with a concept that involves both people in the relationship. And of course she couldn’t stop talking about Stetson, who is now 5 months old.

“He’s loud, just like me. We worried that he wouldn’t connect to me because he has [Bliss’] DNA. Now that he’s here, he’s attached to my hip. Everything I was worried about went away.”

This new type of IVF is certainly a game-changer for same-sex couples like Ashleigh and Bliss, who want to play a role in pregnancy. Since Sec 377 has been abolished in India, let’s hope this process reaches here and allows lesbian couple to realise their dream.