A lesbian couple from Texas are thought to have made history by becoming the first women to carry the same baby.
The married mums Ashleigh and Bliss Coulter used a revolutionary process called reciprocal effortless IVF to carry their first child, son Stetson, who was born in June.
She continued: “Obviously, us being two women, we were like, ‘How can we make this happen?' We felt like there has to be a way.”
"Bliss went through the stimulation of her ovaries and the egg harvest,” the couple's doctor, Kathy Doody, explained to NBC 5.
Normally with IVF, fertilised eggs are placed in an incubator to grow before being implanted in a woman's uterus. However, in the case of Bliss and Ashleigh, Bliss's eggs were moved to a device called an INVOcell and then incubated in Bliss's vaginal cavity.
“She got the embryo off to an early start,” Doody said, explaining that the fertilised embryos were later removed and frozen, before being transferred to Ashleigh who carried the baby to full term.
The new mums with their son, Stenston. Source: Instagram
Doody said that it was "almost like passing the baton, like it’s a relay race."
“Bliss got to carry him for five days and was a big part of the fertilization, and then I carried him for nine months,” Ashleigh added.
“So that made it really special for the both of us — that we were both involved. She got to be a part of it, and I got to be a part of it.”
