Throughout her childhood, Louise Brown has proven that she is no different from other people.
“Is your daughter normal? Doesn’t she have two heads? ” – Asked strangers on the street Briton Leslie Brown, the first woman in the world to give birth using IVF.
Today this IVF procedure seems, if not simple, but still a common procedure, but then, in the late 70s, the conception of a child outside the womb seemed a miracle, something fantastic, akin to the novels of H.G. Wells. Imagine what a shock it was for society, politicians, and even more so for the church, the birth of Louise Brown – the first person from a test tube. For women suffering from infertility, Mrs. Brown has become a beacon of hope. They showered Leslie with postcards of congratulations, which are carefully preserved to this day. But there were ominous messages from religious fanatics. One, for example, sent a package containing a plastic embryo and a broken test tube.
Once my dad wrote me a letter in which he said that I have a soul and that a place in heaven has been prepared for me, ”recalls Louise, who is now 42 years old.
At one time, the girl had to go through hundreds of studies so that the scientists and doctors finally concluded: a child born with IVF is no different from other people.
Louise was born on July 25, 1978, and since then, World Assisted Reproductive Technology Day has been celebrated on this day.
Leslie was 29 when she ventured into IVF. And before that – long 9 years of futile attempts. She tried all the methods of treatment, but the diagnosis of “obstruction of the fallopian tubes” sounded like a sentence.
“Find yourself a normal woman,” Leslie said to her husband more than once. At some point, desperate, she fell into a deep depression. But the loving husband did not even think to leave.
“Mom always said: if for the sake of having a baby, she had to undress in a busy London square with a hat on her head, she would do it,” Louise recalled in an interview. .
Therefore, when the chance presented itself, albeit very dubious, Leslie immediately agreed to become one of 282 experimental subjects on whom the IVF procedure was tested. However, only 12 women succeeded in replanting embryos, and only five embryos took root. Only Louise’s mother was able to carry the baby during the experiment.
“Baby of the Century”
The first test tube baby was born at 38 weeks by caesarean section. The baby weighed 2,6 kg.
“It’s a girl!”
The child was given a double name: Louise Joy – Louise Joy in translation from English. The name Joy was suggested by obstetrician-gynecologist Patrick Steptoe and physiologist Robert Edwards. They then developed the first IVF program, thanks to which Louise was born.
“They said that my birth would bring joy to many people,” says Brown.
By the way, 32 years after the birth of Louise, in 2010, Robert Edwards received the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology for his discovery. Unfortunately, few places indicate the name of nurse Jean Pardee, who was also involved in this miracle of medicine.
“Patrick Steptoe and Jean Pardee were like grandparents to me, part of the family,” says Louise.
Left to right: Professor Robert Edwards, Nurse Jean Pardee, and Physician Patrick Steptoe
“How did you fit in the test tube?”
When Louise was four years old, she had a sister. Natalie Brown was also born with IVF and went down in history in 1999 as the first test-tube person to give birth to a naturally conceived child. Later Natalie became a mother to three more babies. Louise has two sons growing up, both boys are also conceived naturally. The eldest, Cameron, is already 14 years old, the youngest, Aiden, will turn 5 in the fall.
Natalie and Louise with children
“The children are proud of me. Cameron says: “Mom, they wrote about you in the newspaper” or “You were a question on the quiz,” Louise says in an interview with the British newspaper .
One day the eldest son came home from school and said:
“Mom, they write about you in textbooks,” Louise recalls the words of the child. However, she was not surprised. IVF was also featured in textbooks during her school years. And, of course, Brown’s classmates who passed the topic immediately pestered with questions if Louise was normal.
“The kids at school asked in all seriousness: how did you fit into the test tube?” – recalls Brown. However, the girl was never offended or teased.
“You can understand them. Today, children will never know how a classmate was conceived, and then it was a sensation, ”says Louise.
By the way, as a child, the girl had no idea that she had become a scientific discovery. However, at the age of 5, the parents decided to reveal the truth to the child, showed a videotape with the first minutes of Louise’s life.
“But I don’t feel special,” Brown admits in an interview. … True, it took her decades to finally feel comfortable in her role. In her youth, the close attention of journalists and people around her very much embarrassed Louise: “It seemed that everyone knew my name.”
In addition, the first years of Louise’s life, her parents traveled the world to show that their daughter is the same as the rest.
Mom felt that although I was her child, she should share me with the world. “
But then the time came to send the child to school, and all tours, as well as appearances in the media, stopped.
“My parents wanted a daughter, not a superstar,” says Brown, who has been carefully hidden from journalists for years. “Mom and Dad wanted me to have a natural life.”
Unfortunately, Louise’s parents died early. First, her father passed away – just two weeks before Louise gave birth to her first child. And five years later, my mother died. Both were only 64 years old. At her mother’s funeral, her daughter said:
Mom was a very quiet, domestic person. She only attracted everyone’s attention because she really wanted to have children. “
Now Louise is a public figure, she often speaks at conferences, became an ambassador of a reproductive center, travels the world to support women suffering from infertility, and strives to make IVF more affordable.
“Oh, if only my parents had such support in their time as they do to families now,” sighs Louise.
At the same time, you will not find family pictures on Brown’s official pages on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Louise prefers to publish photos of her children and husband on her personal page, where she is registered under the name of her husband, Wesley Mullinder.
Met my husband, barely born
Wesley and Louise have been happily married for 17 years. And it looks like it really is destiny.
Their first meeting happened when Louise was just born and Wesley was 8 years old. He then lived in the neighborhood and once saw crowds of journalists on the street. The boy went out to see what the excitement was about. I went to the Browns’ house, heard the local children whispering: “The baby from the test tube is coming home.”
Then Wesley saw his future wife. After 24 years, they met again and never parted.
Two months after they met, Louise told her future husband the story of her birth. But this was not news to him.
Now Louise works in a transport office. And her husband works as a doorman. The couple with children live in Bristol. They have their own house, which is full of pets: two dogs, four cats, a hamster, a rat, two rabbits.
“As I said, we live an ordinary life, well, almost ordinary,” laughs Louise.
Leslie Brown, female trailblazer, passed away in 2012. And Louise inherited letters that were sent to her mother from all over the country: she instilled hope in many women who despaired of becoming mothers.
“I cried when I read about your child. I am so happy for you and your husband! Maybe we will have a child, too ”- such letters reached even without an address. “Leslie and John Brown, parents of a test tube baby,” the envelopes were inscribed.
“My mom would be amazed if she knew how far IVF has come since then. It’s a shame she doesn’t see it, ”says Louise, that same test-tube baby, the baby of hope.