The first woman in the U.S. born without a uterus gave birth to a healthy baby boy at Dallas-based Baylor University Medical Center Dec. 1, Time reports.
The birth was part of the hospital's ongoing uterus transplant clinical trial program. Women enrolled in the program have a condition called absolute uterine factor infertility, meaning their uterus is nonfunctioning or nonexistent, and had previously been told they would not be able to get pregnant.
Taylor Siler, RN, donated her uterus to the woman who gave birth last Friday.
"I have family members who struggled to have babies, and it's not fair," Ms. Siler said. "I just think that if we can give more people that option, that's an awesome thing."
The 36-year-old nurse underwent extensive physical and mental health screenings to be considered for the trial. She told Time she did not know the recipient who received her uterus, but said she and the woman exchanged letters the day of the transplant surgery. The woman also contacted her when she discovered she was pregnant, Ms. Siler said.
Baylor plans to complete 10 uterus transplants during the first trial. Of the eight transplants the hospital has completed thus far, which include last Friday's birth, three have failed, according to the report. One other recipient recently discovered she was pregnant.
Insurance companies tend to not cover the transplant operation, which can cost upward of $500,000, because it is generally considered an elective procedure. Baylor paid the costs of the first 10 operations and is looking for external funding to cover the costs of additional surgeries as the trial progresses.
"It was very special to look in the eyes of the mother, she was told when she was a teenager that she would never see this moment and then all of a sudden you see this happening and you think everything has meaning," Giuliano Testa, MD, surgical chief of abdominal transplantation at Baylor University Medical Center and one of the physicians who helped deliver the newborn, told ABC News.