Thirty Years Of In Vitro Fertilization
The World Celebrates The 30th Anniversary Of IVF
Jul 22, 2008
Lesley and John Brown from Bristol, UK, had been trying unsuccessfully to have a baby for nine years. Lesley suffered with blocked fallopian tubes and was unable to conceive naturally. She had consulted a number of specialists but nobody could help her. She then went to see Dr. Patrick Steptoe in 1976.
On November 10, 1977 Dr. Steptoe mixed sperm from her husband with an egg he had surgically retrieved and placed the egg and sperm in a petri dish with a special solution he had developed to encourage the egg to mature.
This had been done previously but had always failed. The doctor had tried to grow the embryo to five days post-conception but this had resulted in it dying. This time he decided to only grow the embryo for two and a half days before transferring it to Lesley's womb. This was highly experimental and had never been attempted before. The embryo successfully implanted into her womb and she had an uneventful, normal pregnancy.
This caused a sensation. Many infertile couples were filled with the hope that maybe they, too, could be pregnant one day. While some saw it as a medical miracle, others were not so confident. Medical professionals weren't sure whether a baby would grow normally if it had been conceived outside the body, even for such a short amount of time. Maybe there would be disabilities they weren't aware of? And if a child turned out to be mentally handicapped, would IVF be to blame?
Lesley was monitored throughout her pregnancy with many ultrasound scans and amniocentesis, which was not common in the late 1970s.
During the latter part of her pregnancy she developed high blood pressure so her doctor thought it would be better to deliver the baby early by caesarean section.
On 25 July, 1978, a 5lb, 12oz. baby girl was born. She had fair hair and blue eyes, and most importantly, no abnormalities. Dr. Patrick Steptoe told excited news crews,
"All examinations showed that the baby is quite normal. The mother's condition after delivery was also excellent."
They named the baby Louise Joy Brown, after Louis, one of the doctors who delivered her, and later went on to have a second IVF baby, Natalie.
Natalie became the first IVF baby ever to give birth, when on 13th May 1999 she had a daughter, Casey.
Louise followed suit on 20th December 2006 when she had her first child, a boy, Cameron John Mullinder, who weighed just under 6lbs. Both babies were concieved naturally.
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