At just 15-years-old, Malin Stenberg was told she would never be able to carry a child of her own as she was born without a womb.
Describing that moment, Malin told the Daily Mail:
“I wasn’t ready to hear it, I couldn’t take it in.
“I thought that this means that I’ll never be able to carry a child of my own – but that is what women are made for.
“It felt so unfair. I loved kids and babies and I wanted to know what I had done to deserve this. I felt so alone.”
Throwing herself into her work, Malin tried to find fulfilment in other areas.
But when she met Claes Nilsson, Malin knew that it was children she wanted more than anything.
The couple looked into adoption and surrogacy before hearing about and signing up for a womb transplant project in Gothenburg University.
After successfully finding a donor, Malin began IVF shortly after the transplant and became pregnant on her first attempt.
Born two months prematurely, baby Vincent became the first successful birth from a womb transplant.
“When I held him for the first time, it was just amazing. I felt immediately that he was my baby.
“It just felt so natural. We truly are a family now.”
Malin is now hoping to inspire other women who have barriers in their path’s to pregnancy.
“Total happiness comes from having family and it doesn’t matter if it is through a womb transplant, or adoption, or something else. It is magical.”
Since this ground-breaking birth, four more babies have been born from womb transplants and several countries have launched their own programmes.
