Jul 24, 2008

World - World's first test tube baby turns 30

LONDON: The birth of Louise Brown, the world's first IVF baby, hit headlines around the globe three decades ago - but the married mother-of-one wants to keep her 30th birthday on Friday low-key by contrast. Brown lives in Bristol with husband Wesley Mullinder and 18-month-old son Cameron. Although her birth opened the door for millions of infertile couples worldwide to give birth to IVF (in vitro fertilisation) or test tube babies, Brown has no big plans to celebrate the landmark date. Louise Joy Brown was born on July 25, 1978 at Oldham and district general hospital in England by Caesarean section, weighing 2.61 kilogrammes. Her parents, Lesley and John, had been trying to have children but could not because Lesley's fallopian tubes were blocked. The couple heard about research by Cambridge University physiologist Robert Edwards and gynaecologist Patrick Steptoe and signed up with them for fertility treatment.

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