America’s first IVF-born baby, says that she will continue to advocate alternative fertility treatment options as she turns 40.
Elizabeth Jordon Carr, a birth was given to Judith Carr on 28/12/81 at Norfolk General Hospital in Virginia. Judith Carr is a 28 year-old schoolteacher whose fallenopian tubes were damaged by previous pregnancies and Roger Carr, her engineer husband.
It was not only the 15th IVF-born baby worldwide, but also the first one in the USA. Louise Brown from the UK was the first IVF-treated person to have a child in 1978.
Elizabeth Carr (pictured), America’s first IVF baby, has now turned 40. She says that she is still an advocate of fertility treatments.
She was delivered on December 28, 1981, at Norfolk General Hospital in Virginia and grew up in the public eye
IVF is estimated to have facilitated the birth of eight million babies.
Ms. Carr was born naturally and is now a mother to her 11-year-old son.
She told The New York Post ahead of her 40th birthday: ‘There were definitely people who had terrible things to say – and still do – even as far as we’ve come.
‘I always knew that I was the talkbaby, so I had to be well-mannered, speak clearly and communicate effectively. It was not enough to be rebellious and arrogant. I was aware that everyone would judge me for what I did.
There were ethical issues at the time about IVF. Little was known about this pioneering treatment.
Judy Louise was the mother of Louise. Judy had experienced three ectopic pregnancies where her fertilized eggs grew outside of her uterus.
It was her fifteenth IVF-created baby, but she was also the first to be born in the USA (pictured).
She was not familiar with IVF. However, she had received a flyer at an IVF conference.
Howard and Georgeanna Jones were a married medical team. Louise and her parents flew to Virginia from Massachusetts, where the procedure was prohibited.
Her parents paid $5,000 for hospital bills, she estimates.
Shortly after she was born, several media outlets tried to interview her parents. They initially declined, but then decided to make the story public in order to increase awareness.
Louise, who was raised to be an icon for IVF, found it difficult living in the public eye.
Ms. Carr has become a mother to her 11-year old son, who she conceived naturally. (Photo taken during her pregnancy).
Dr Howard Jones describes the in vitro fertilation process at the 1981 conference regarding Elizabeth’s birth.
Louise was the only child of her parents and she decided to pursue a career in health journalism. She considers herself a fertility advocate.
Trevor, Trevor’s son, was born in 2010 to her first husband. He was natural and he was healthy. In the meantime, she was remarried.
However, she admitted to having doubts about the pregnancy and stated that “just because my mom’s past, I was aware that any moment something could go wrong.”
Louise, who was born in 1899, has her baptismal dress on display at Smithsonian Institute. She addressed the UN when she was 19.
Her forthcoming book, Under the Microscope: America’s First IVF Baby will be published on January 7.
In 1998, Dr Georgeanna Jones and Dr Howard Jones pose together for a photograph. Howard continued to work until his death in 2015 at the age of just 104. In 2005, his wife succumbed to Alzheimer’s.
The mother-of-one said: ‘I want people to get an inside look of who I really am … “Elizabeth Carr, first IVF baby” is not the full story or picture of who I am as a human being.’
Although her mother, now aged 68, will share the celebration with her, her dad, who passed away in June of this year, is no longer there.
Howard Jones, the pioneering doctor who led to Louise’s birth, was killed in 2015. He was 104 years old.
Louise stated that he called her every year on her birthday, and added: “You cannot begin to thank those who gave you life.”
Trevor was her first child, and she was married to him in 2010.
“He loved his job and went to work everyday, beyond being a scientist. His drive was unstoppable. He was working on his book at his computer. He continued to work. This is what made him so successful.
Jones worked alongside Robert G. Edwards and his wife, which helped to pioneer research that ultimately led to Louise Brown.
Edwards was a visitor to the University School of Medicine Baltimore, in which he and his wife were faculty members in the 1960s.
Edwards said that he was grateful for the time he spent with them. IVF is a procedure in which an egg can be fertilized with sperm from a lab dish and then placed in the womb.