The gift of motherhood is one of the biggest gifts in the life of a woman. It changes a woman both physically and emotionally. Unfortunately, not all women are lucky enough to experience it, but then science comes to our aid. Around two months ago a British lesbian couple gave birth to a boy and they both carried the boy in their wombs. This has happened for the first time in medical history. Till today we heard about the process of in vitro fertilization or IVF where sperm and eggs are fertilized outside the body, then the fertilized eggs or embryos are placed into the uterus. In the case of this British couple, Jasmine and Donna Francis Smith, both the women carried their son Otis in their wombs, to summarise, they shared their motherhood. This process is known as the AneVivo procedure which was founded by a Swiss technology company called Anecova. The procedure in vivo natural fertilization was carried out at the London Women’s Clinic. Donna and Jasmine gave birth through in vivo fertilization, in this process unlike IVF the eggs of the biological mother are placed inside a miniature capsule and then inserted into her womb for incubating.
After the eggs are incubated they are removed from the womb of the first mother and then placed in the womb of the gestational mother till birth. The eggs were placed in Donna’s womb for incubation. The eggs were in Donna’s womb for 18 hours. After that, it was placed inside Jasmine’s womb. On September 30 Jasmine gave birth to their son Otis. Jasmine said that this has brought them emotionally closer and they are a true family. She further said, "The whole process was an amazing experience and we got everything we wanted from it."Luckily Donna and Jasmine were successful in their first attempt only. Donna said, “We’re overwhelmed, to be honest, it’s blown up massively. We’re a close couple anyway, but we both have a special bond with Otis as well, which was helped by the way we’ve done it.”Donna and Jasmine got married in 2018. Although, many lesbian couples have given birth; this is the first time childbirth with shared motherhood took place.
