February 11, 2025 • 57 mins
This is the kind of story that stops you in your tracks. When Kristy Bryant lost her uterus after a traumatic birth, she thought her dream of carrying another child was over. But in an extraordinary Australia-first clinical trial, she received a uterus transplant - from her own mother, Michelle. That same womb, which once carried Kristy, gave her the chance to carry her son, Henry.
Kristy takes us inside this groundbreaking procedure, sparing no details. With raw honesty, she shares the highs, the heartbreak, and the deeply personal (and at times graphic) realities of this medical milestone, all made possible by the ultimate mother-daughter bond.
HOSTS & PRODUCERS
Kelly McCarren @kelly_mccarren
Kee Reece@keereece
AUDIO PRODUCTION
Madeline Joannou -Mylk Media
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We acknowledged the traditional custodians of the land we're recording
on today.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
I started asking for my mom and my husband and
they said no, this is a life saving hysterectomy, and
I said okay, and that's when they said, we'll put
you to sleep now. So then I went to sleep
and woke up in the ICU forty eight hours later.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Hello, and welcome back to Eat Sleep, Shit, Repeat, your
unhinged podcast all about the madness that is motherhood and
everything in between.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I'm Kyri Souls, I'm Kelly McCarron and in case you
missed last week's episode, we talked toddlers and bullying, what
happens when you've got the bad kid and should we
be worried?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Yes, and thank you so much to the shitters for
sharing their experiences and our dms. It made us have
a we chuckle and feel a lot. Seen on the show. Today,
we're talking to a lovely shitter, Kirsty, who was Australia's
first uterus transplant recipient. Her mum, Michelle, was her donor.
It's a fascinating story and one that we are so
(01:00):
so excited to share far and wide. Modern medicine is
kind of amazing, and we also get into the emotional
side of doing something so groundbreaking.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Honestly, I'm so excited for this to be going live
because everyone I've told about this conversation afterwards was like
what yeah, yeah, I spent my whole summer holidays being.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Like we are interviewing Kirsty the first and they were like.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Wow, yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
A little reminder, because we have pre recorded this before
the bearbit arrives, we aren't doing Pecan Pit as we
thought they could age quite badly, but don't worry. It
will be back as soon as we're back to our
regular recording schedule.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
That's right, let's get into it. So we first heard
from Kirsty after Cal asked you the shit is for
your amazing stories, and well this one truly takes the cake.
So Kirsty responded saying, Hi, ladies, love the pod. My
name is Kirsty and I was Australia's first uterus transplant recipient.
My mum, Michelle was my donor. The transplant surgery was
(01:55):
successful and I was able to carry another child. That
child is my son, Hena, who turned one in December.
I would love to share my story of secondary and
fertility and the uterus transplant clinical trial. We could not
be more excited to talk to Kirsty today and share
her story with our lovely community here. She is well welcome, Kirsty.
(02:16):
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, where
you live, who lives with you, and what keeps you busy?
Speaker 5 (02:21):
Hi, ladies.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I live on the mid north coast of New South Wales.
I live with my husband Nicholas and our two children,
my daughter who's three and a half, Violet, and my
son Henry, and he is one.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
So talk us through your journey of deciding to have
kids and what your fertility journey looked like.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
My husband and I we got engaged, we got married,
than that little thing COVID sort of ruined our plans
of going on a honeymoon, and we had a chat
and sort of said, well, if we're not going on holidays,
we always want children.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
But we hadn't, you know, actively tried.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
So I said, oh, look it could take you know,
six or twelve months, we should just start trying for
a baby. And that next month I did a pregnancy
test and we were pregnant. I lost that pregnancy early
on and went back to my GP, and he said,
you know, have a natural period and then when you're ready,
(03:26):
you can try again. So I had a period, and
then that next month we tried again. We fell pregnant
with Violet. I was referred to the MGP program, which
is the Midway Free group practice. So I had some
lovely midwives a fairly easy pregnancy. I was still working,
and then when I went into labor, Violet was posterior,
(03:50):
so her spine to my spine, and I was getting
really dreadful back pain. I had been into the hospit
and seeing the midwives and it was confirmed she was posterior.
We were given like a sheet of very wonderful stretches
and positions to get into to relieve pain, but also
(04:12):
to see if Violet would flip around. She did not
do that, and then I labored a little bit longer
at home, got to seven centimeters, went to the hospital,
got the feeling that I needed to push, got to
ten centimeters, started pushing, and then instead of Violet tucking
her chin to her chest, she went the other way
(04:32):
and tried to come out eyeballs first.
Speaker 5 (04:35):
So she was very lost. She had no idea what
she was doing.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
The poor thing so that also stopped the doctors being
able to use sort of any interventions I.
Speaker 5 (04:45):
Force its or suction.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
So then I went in for an emergency cesarean. Violet
was born a little after one o'clock in the morning,
and she was happy and healthy and crying, and I
got to give her a little kiss, and then my
midwife and my husband went down to the birthing floor
maternity and it was whilst I was still in the
(05:10):
bed the surgery plank that I had a postpartum hemorrhage
and I lost eleven liters of blood, so that was
my body's volumed twice over and they had to perform
a life saving hystery to me.
Speaker 5 (05:24):
Basically, oh wow, were you awake? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
So the first thing I realized that alerted everyone to
the issue was I was getting pain in my back,
which obviously I'd had an epidural, I shouldn't be able
to feel pain. And then I started vomiting ferociously, and
basically because I was losing my blood, I became hypoxic,
so I didn't have enough oxygen traveling around my body.
Speaker 5 (05:50):
But yes, I was awake.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
And then basically, once it was an emergency sort of
everyone started coming back in and they were getting more
teams of people and basically they lowered the curtain and
just said, no, we need to do a hysterect to me.
And I said no, and I started asking for my
mum and my husband and they said no, this is
a life saving hysterect to me, and I said okay.
(06:12):
And that's when because the anethetist, you know how they
sort of stayed behind your head and yeah, sort of
looking over.
Speaker 5 (06:17):
The top of you. They said, we'll put you to
sleep now.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
So yeah, then I went to sleep and woke up
in the ICU forty eight hours later.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Did you go to sleep thinking, oh my god, I'm
going to die like that is horrifying.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I went to sleep thinking, goodness, me put me to sleep.
I can't yea, yeah, listen to this anymore. And honestly,
I knew it was really bad, but there was just
something innately in me that I knew I was fighting
and I just wanted to meet my baby.
Speaker 5 (06:48):
So yeah, the second I.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Woke up, the nurse came in and she's like, oh,
go get your husband. And I was in the ICU,
so they were on maternity, so they brought Violet in
with the little bassinett on wheels, and because I'd lost
so much blood, I was a little bit woozy, And
because I was with the MGP and I was really
clear with my birth plan that I wanted to breastfeed,
(07:11):
the midwives had actually been milking my breasts and feeding
Violet the colostrum.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
The midwives are the best people.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
They're phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I know, they're just above and beyond obviously trying to
one create that connection with me, but also yet trying
to feel that wish of mine of wanting to be
able to breastfeed. And Yeah, to be honest, when I
woke up, I knew what had happened. I remembered everything
that had happened. I remembered that they told me that
(07:40):
I was going to have a hysterectomy. In my head,
I assumed that they only took my uterus. That was
confirmed by doctors and nurses pretty much straight away. Yes,
it was just your uterus. You still have your ovaries.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
So if you've lost your uterus but kept everything else,
you won't go through menopause correct, correct, very crept.
Speaker 5 (07:57):
Yeah, And in my head, I wasn't even thinking about menopause.
I was thinking oh.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
My god, with my brain, I'm like, not menopause. That's awful.
You've got a new one end of going through menopause.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Well, that obviously is something you would have to think about.
But to me immediately, while it was my first baby,
I knew I wanted to have a gaggle of children,
like I wanted to have more children. So as soon
as I heard that I had my ovaries, I was like, okay, ding, ding,
I can have more biological children. So pretty much, once
(08:27):
we got back down to maternity and I got out
of ICU, they started talking to me about sarrogacy. Like
the midwife started saying, when you're ready, we can talk
to you about sarrogacy. We have policies at our hospital
that you could birth here with the midwife.
Speaker 5 (08:41):
So they were very open and honest.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
It was maybe a little bit too soon, but I
appreciate it because again they knew my wishes. I had
made it very clear that I wanted to have more children.
So yeah, I mean I appreciated the conversations.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
When they were talking to you, Did they tell you why,
like what had happened?
Speaker 5 (09:01):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
And no, So yes, we knew that i'd had at
this massive bleed. But they ended up doing like an
RCA report, which is just like a report of everything
that went wrong, and we were able to do a
debrief with the hospital and that was probably when we
got more idea of exactly what went down and what happened.
(09:22):
But basically, my uterus just didn't contract because there was
just so much pressure and I'd been pushing for so long,
and they think again that was because of Violet being posterior,
and I just had a massive postpartum hemorrhage.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
So you've woken up and ice you, they've taken you
back down. You know, you're with your Harvey, with baby.
You've taken all this information and you're really thankful for
the life saving surgery. You've got your baby. But was
there a period of mourning or did that come kind
of like at a later stage, like what was your
I guess your mental state.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Like behind closed door, I was a wreck, but I
definitely can see now with hindsight, like my daughter was
born in April twenty twenty one hindsight, I was definitely fawning.
I definitely didn't want to be a pain. I didn't
want to be a terrible patient. I think I just wanted.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
I wanted just to be a normal mum.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
But also, yeah, I definitely think I was fawning a
little bit and a little bit later on, like there
was just lots of appointments, lots of follow ups. I
had to see GPS, and then I had to see
I've got to call it. Like, there was just a
lot of things happening. I definitely was a little bit
worried that if I showed any weak not weakness, but
(10:38):
this is just what I was thinking in my head.
I don't want anyone to take away my baby, so
I need to put my best foot forward and pretend
like everything's okay.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
I think that's such a normal reaction because you've just
like you've had your baby taken away already, you know,
like you had that degree of separation from her. Can
I just ask you, though, what was the recovery like,
just because I'm just thinking you've had a Caesar, but
then you've also had a hysterectomy.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Correct, And I also had a stent placed in one
of my urytors because when they did the hysterectomy, they
caught my urrota in a suture, so I'd had a
stent place, which meant that when I was six weeks
postparted and they wanted me to have day surgery to
have the stent removed. Oh wow, I mean Touchwood. I
can laugh about it now. At Touchwood, everything was fine.
(11:25):
My urrotor is fine, I can use the bathroom. It
was just very traumatizing having to go back to the
hospital so soon after, and I was again stressed about
breastfeeding and having a general anesthetic and being away from
my baby.
Speaker 5 (11:38):
But everything was okay.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
I've got a very my husband's very hands on obviously
because I needed lots and lots of help, and I've
got lots of family that lives very close by, so
I have been really supported.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
But I could pick Violet up. That was my limit.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
So I was allowed to pick baby up, but basically
I couldn't push the prem. I couldn't take the prem
in and out of the car. So basically I did
nothing for the first six weeks. I just stayed at
home and stayed with Violet, and whilst my husband was home,
we did go down to like the local.
Speaker 5 (12:11):
Coffee shop and have a coffee.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
But basically I just stayed in that baby bubble and
I just stayed home where I felt really safe. Yeah,
but I mean overall, now I've had lots of surgeries.
My sea section, the first my sea section with the
historic to me, it wasn't really that painful uncomfortable, definitely, yes,
but by the time I have.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
A reference to a lot more invasive.
Speaker 5 (12:38):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
So, and I mean my sea section was a traditional
sea section, so like hip to hip, whereas my uterus
transplant was up and down, so it went from my belly.
Speaker 5 (12:48):
Button to my pelvis.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
And that was incredibly painful and incredibly hard because they
cut through all of your muscle, so I had like
no stomach muscles, whereas after my cesarean and my first systectomy,
I felt weak. And I think, I mean, I assume
you both remember that feeling of your tummy like contracting
back after having like your baby growing in there. You
(13:12):
have that really like jelly loose jelly sensation. So yeah,
I had a little obviously that but that's very you know,
normal postpartum jelly belly feeling.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
But yeah, it was just a bit slow and yeah,
that easy.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
So then how long after because obviously you've talked about
like lots of follow up, which of course it would
be and then you've had to also have that day surgery.
How long after Violet's birth did the opportunity to be
in the uterus transplant clinical trial come up?
Speaker 2 (13:42):
So Violet was six months old and she had gone
down for a sleep, and I had been just furiously
researching my options. Both my mum and my sister in
law had pretty much straightaway offered to be surrogates if
(14:04):
and when I wanted to have more children. But after
my birthing experience, I think I was just really worried
about putting people that I love in that situation. The
thought of losing my mum or my sister in law,
I just thought it was too big of a risk.
My sister in law had birth both my niece and
my nephew like a champion. She's amazing birth just agrees
(14:26):
with her. She had these really incredible birthing experiences. My
mom was the same. She was very young, fit and healthy,
and she had two vaginal births.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
Good on her.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
But so yeah, they both offered to be surrogates if
and when we chose to have more children. But I
just really really had this urge that I wanted to
be pregnant again, even though I had no uterus, so
I had nowhere to have that baby. I just thought
to myself, like, we do heart transplants, we do lung transplants,
(14:58):
Like why on Earth can't we do a uterus transplant?
Speaker 5 (15:01):
Like why can't I have the organ that was removed replaced?
Speaker 4 (15:05):
It was actually you that came up with the idea,
is it them?
Speaker 5 (15:10):
Well?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
I jumped on the internet, as you do, and I
was in a couple of Facebook groups, but nothing was
proving fruitful. But I basically just found the website for
the clinical trial. It looked old, it looked like it
hadn't been updated. There wasn't any new information on there.
And I just found an email address and that email
address went to Yana Pittman. So doctor Jana Pittman. So
(15:33):
I shot off an email. She replied pretty much straight
away with the requirements to be accepted into the clinical trial.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
So I got off the phone.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
I rang my mum and I said, hey, Mom, like, hypothetically,
if you could have a hysterectomy and I could have
your uterus and have another baby, would you do it?
Speaker 5 (15:55):
And she said where?
Speaker 2 (15:56):
And I said Sydney, And she said, oh, okay, I'll
talk to your dad, But yeah, that sounds fine, and
I said, okay, bye, hung up from her.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
And Mary, God, how old is your mum or was
your mum at the time?
Speaker 5 (16:08):
Fifty?
Speaker 4 (16:09):
She's a young mum.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Yeah, my mom was in early twenties when she had
me and was married and mum was yet. So my
mum and I are really good friends, like we talk
most mornings, and we were still talking about, you know,
getting periods and stuff. So I knew Mom still got
a period. I just needed to know if I could
have her uterus.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
She still got a period of fifty that also, that
poor woman. Isn't part of the thing about getting older
that you don't get your period anymore?
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Well, she was perry, okay, but she was still getting
a period, and that's all I really.
Speaker 5 (16:40):
Well, sorry, Mom, I'm.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Talking about this is so transactional, but I mean it
does really sound like I was just asking it out
for lunch. But yes, I did ask her for an
organ in like a two minute phone call while she
was at work.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
You guys would have been talking since that you had
your hysterectomy, and she would have known, you know.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Yeah, she knew my desires and she's already offered up parrogacy,
so correct, So you're just asking, okay, Mom, but we
just you.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
Know, you put it into me.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
Also, I think with people you love, you kind of
can be a little bit more open with people like
I literally just dropped into conversation one day when I
was talking to my girlfriend on the phone, which was
about her fertility stuff that she's going through. I was like, oh,
and just so you know, you don't have to be
weird about it or anything, but I've got lots of
eggs if you'd like any.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
And she's kind of like, what, But I'm like, I
don't know.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
With friends, you kind of and people you love that
our family, you just can kind of be like by
the way, you know.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
But Kelly you are.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
I wouldn't say we're super similar, but we're direct and correct.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
Yeah. Yeah, no time to fuck around.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
There's no beating not with fertility. We do not have
time to mic around.
Speaker 4 (17:43):
Oh my god, exactly.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
And especially because like you said, Mum and I had
had been having these conversations, she knew how much I
did want another child. I did want to have them
in my mind close ish together. So to be a
part of the clinical trial at the Royal women's You
needed to bring a donor, so my mum was my donor.
I'm the recipient. We obviously had to do lots of
(18:07):
tests before we went to Sydney, but we did like
blood tests, ultrasounds, like pretty i want to say, basic,
pretty basic tests. The big big one that was we
were all holding our breath was obviously the tissue matching.
So because it's an organ transplant, my body needed to
be able to accept mum's uterus and we are a
(18:29):
blood type match. But just because your family like mother
and daughter, doesn't mean you'll be tissue matches. But we
were so once we got that tissue match result, I
still didn't know how many people were also doing the
same things we were. But in my head I was like,
just as long as it happens, I'll be happy. And
then it basically was just before Christmas twenty twenty three.
(18:54):
I had a conversation with Yanner and she said, if
you come to Sydney, and there was a few psychological
appointments we all needed to go through, so me, my mum,
my husband, and my dad because obviously it affects them
as well, and being a clinical trial, they're collecting lots
of information so this can obviously, hopefully one day go
on to be an option for people for women. And yeah,
(19:17):
we went to Sydney and we sat down with doctor
Rebecca Dean's and she was head of the program, and
she said, could you guys potentially be here on the
tenth of January And this was like the week before Christmas.
Speaker 5 (19:31):
And I was like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
And you know, I had to obviously have that conversation
with Mum because in our head we thought it was
going to happen in March, and that was obviously bringing
the timeline forward. But Mum basically said, the sooner you
have this uterus transplant, the sooner you can.
Speaker 5 (19:45):
Have a baby. So yeah, let's let's do it.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
And that's when I basically realized we were going to
be the first in Australia.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
So it was a clinical trial in Australia.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
You guys were going to be the first, but it
was it had been done successfully in other countries, correct.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
So we follow the protocol we follow is from Sweden
from doctor MATTX Branstrom. He is a Swedish gynocologist and
he was in Australia in South Australia actually about fifteen
years ago, and he was finishing some of his study
here and he was working with women in oncology, so
women that were losing their uteruses due to cancer treatment.
(20:22):
And it was actually a young woman, I hope I'm
not mincing his story, but it was a young woman
I think she was really early twenties who was going
to have to have a hysterectomy and she said to him,
why can't I have a uterus transplant? And he basically
laughed in her face and said, we don't do uterus transplants.
And then when he finished up his study in Australia,
he went back to Sweden and he just had been
(20:44):
mulling it over and was like, actually, why can't we
do transplants uterus transplants. So he basically started his planning
and basically got it off the ground. So he did
animal studies and the ethical approval and the year they
actually just celebrated, so the first baby ever born with
a uterus transplant was done in Sweden and that little
(21:06):
boy turned ten like a month ago.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
So doctor Matt Branstrom actually came back to Australia and
did my surgery. The doctors that the Royal filmed it
so that they could then go on to use that
as like a learning video.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
That is like how incredible that you and your family
are part of history history you are medical marvels and
like history is going to be written on this and
like science books and like it's so cool.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
It's incredibly cool, especially because if the women in Sweden
didn't put their hands up to be the first, then
I wouldn't be in this position as well. So those
women paved the way for me to be able to
then have a clinical trial in Australia. So when people
ask me, like you were the first, it's so risky.
You know, they told you it might not work, and
(22:00):
if it didn't work, then you know, you wouldn't have
your mum's uterus to then have, you know, for syrucusy
and things like that. But in my mind, I was like,
if we don't try, like it's always a no, Like
I have to give this a go. And I really
did want to carry another pregnancy. I wanted to carry
another baby in my belly.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
What were the chances of it being successful? Like did
they give you the odds?
Speaker 5 (22:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (22:21):
They did, I don't really remember them now, but basically
they were just worried obviously about bleeding again. So after
all the issues with bleeding, we did lots and lots
of tests and basically they came up with no, I
don't have any bleeding disorders, because obviously they were a
little bit worried, but they took my history into consideration
(22:41):
and they just were so meticulously planned, and they did
a run through the day before with all the doctors
and surgeons and instruments because obviously they needed special instruments.
And it's incredible it was still to this day, doctor
Matt's Branstrom actually came back from Sweden when Henry was born.
I'm jumping ahead, but yeah, so it's incredible that he
(23:02):
was there on the day like he performed my surgery,
and then he also was there the day that Henry
was born.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
So the day of the surgery, walk us through, how
are you feeling, how was your mom feeling?
Speaker 4 (23:17):
What was the process?
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Yep, So we went to hospital the day prior, so
we had some blood tests and some final things to do.
We stayed in the hospital overnight and then we woke
up that morning and Mom and I were staying in
a room together.
Speaker 5 (23:31):
So that was so lovely. Loved that our beds were
like opposite.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Each other, so we could just smile at each other
from like across our beds.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
I would have been so comforting to be doing it together.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Oh my gosh, I couldn't have done it without my mom.
I just couldn't. Like, I love my husband and I
love my dad, and they're amazing men, but I couldn't
have done this without my mom.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
She sounds amazing.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
She knew, yeah, how much I wanted to be a
mum and how much I wanted to give Violet a sibling,
and she made that sacrifice, and yeah, she had the hysterectomy.
So the morning of we wake up, they wake us
up at five point thirty. I was allowed to have
a light breakfast. Mum wasn't allowed to have anything because
she was going into surgery straight away. But when I
woke up, I immediately jumped out of bed and I
(24:15):
jumped in her bed, and we just laid in bed
in our hospital beds together, and then one of the
beautiful nurses came in and said, okay, Michelle, go have
a shower, wash yourself down with this very special soap.
And then Mum came out we put the gown, the
surgical gown on her, and then Yanna came up and said,
we're ready for you. We're ready for your mum. So
(24:37):
Mum went down first, which was so hard. So they
wanted to obviously be able to get Mum's uterus out
and then they flushed it before they put me under
general anesthetic because obviously her surgery in itself was going
to take a long time. So I was awake and
just waiting for mum, like waiting for news. So Mum
(24:57):
went in at about six thirty seven clock in the morning,
and then I didn't go in on a general anesthetic
until just after lunch, and then I woke up seven
six seven hours later in recovery.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Had you heard anything about your mum before you went under?
Speaker 2 (25:15):
Yes, So basically they came up and I can't remember
if it was Yana that told us, but someone was
basically like, they're flushing the uterus. Your mom's barely bled,
like she's doing so wonderfully. Everything's looking great. We're really
really happy with how the surgery's going. The surgeons are
having a break and you're going to get put under
(25:35):
general anesthetics. So they took me down, I went into
the anesthetic. They had all the nurses there were all
chatting away. They put me to sleep, and then we
got wheeled next to each other and then they basically
start my surgery from there.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Oh wow, that is just so incredible. I love that
you're a detailed person because I want to know every
single detail.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Well, so what they did, so a normal hystorict me
is just they take your uterus basically, and it just depends,
like sometimes they take the cervix, sometimes they take the
filopian tubes.
Speaker 5 (26:09):
Generally, they tried to.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Leave the ovaries to stop you from going into medical menopause.
So it really just depends why you're having a hysterectomy.
So with Mum, they left one ovary for her and
they took the filopian tubes. They took her uterus and
her cervix, so I actually had Mum's uterus en cervix.
Speaker 5 (26:29):
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
But they had to remove my cervix. So when I
had my surgery, I just had the uterus removed. So
when I had my uterus transplant, they removed my cervix
as well.
Speaker 5 (26:39):
But I mean it's a much in a muchness. It
didn't matter.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
And because your mum kept one of her ovaries. It
meant that she wasn't going like, it wasn't speeding up her.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Correct so she was ari in perimenopause. So I'll go
back to a tiny bit. I wake up in recovery.
I look at Mum. She gives me a thumbs up,
closes her eyes, and basically doctor Matt Branstrom and doctor
Rebecca Dean's are at the end of my bed and
they're just talking away and I'm thinking, oh my gosh,
I'm so tired, Like, just tell me it worked. And
(27:08):
doctor Dean's was like, oh, yes, you have a uterress
it worked. And then I basically just closed my eyes.
I was like, I am so tired. And by this
stage it's like midnight. And then eventually they roll us
back down to our rooms and Mum and I are
in our rooms.
Speaker 5 (27:22):
Together and I see my husband.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
I give my husband a kiss, my dad gives Mom
a kiss, and then we're like, yep, see in the morning.
But yeah, it was successful. I stayed in hospital for
seven days and then I was discharged, but Mum's stayed
in hospital for ten days. Mom's bladder took a long
time to wake up, so when they're doing a hystereipty,
like everything's very compact down in your pelvest, and they
(27:48):
did have to move around the bladder, so Mum's bladder
was asleep, that's what they call it. Basically, her blooder
wasn't working, her bladder forgot to do what it needed
to do. So Mum's stayed in hospital a little bit
and then she did go on to have issues with
her bladder. But at the twelve month mark, all of
a sudden, Mom just started waking up in the morning.
(28:09):
So the issue Mum was having was she didn't have
the feeling that she needed to go, so she couldn't
tell when she needed to go. If she said an
alarm on her phone for every three hours, obviously she
was like, Oh, I need to go to the toilet.
But if she didn't have that alarm, she did wasn't
getting the sensation.
Speaker 5 (28:26):
That she needed to wei right.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
But literally twelve months, almost to the week, Mom started
getting that sensation back, so she'd wake up in the
morning and she said she'd just be like, oh, I
need to use the bathroom, and then she actually didn't
tell me for a couple of days, and then one
morning Mum was driving to work. That's usually when she
calls me, and she said to me, I didn't want
(28:48):
to tell you, and I thought she was going to
tell me something I don't know, something bad, and I
was like yeah, and she was like, I've got the
sensation back. I've been going to the bathroom in the
morning all by myself. And I was like, why didn't
you tell me like a week ago, and she said,
I just couldn't believe it. She's like, I just wanted
it to happen for a couple of days in a
row like I wanted to. And she's like, I didn't
want to tell you, and then it not be consistent.
(29:10):
And I was like, oh, that's so good, because my
mum is very fit and healthy and she goes to
the gym and she loves to run, and it wasn't
a big issue. But it was just one of those
really annoying things from the surgery. And then obviously I
felt guilty that mum was adding issues with her blood
aer So the fact that things have got better and
have improved obviously took a weight off my shoulders.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Oh, of course, the same reason why you didn't want
them to be necessarily be your surrogate because of any risk. Yeah,
the surgery is perfect, You're all good, and then it's like,
but mum's just got this one thing, Like, yeah, that's
going to affect kind of how you feel.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
And obviously you want to be really feel really grateful
because lucky me, like thirty two days post off, I
got a period.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Oh my god.
Speaker 5 (29:57):
So the uterus was doing its job.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
It was credible.
Speaker 5 (30:00):
Yeah, it said, hey, I'm a uterus, I need.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
To wild your body just.
Speaker 5 (30:06):
Like it was bad. Yeah, it wanted to be there.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
And because you know, with all transplants there's risk of rejection,
so what correct is it with a uterus and was there?
You know, don't you have to take like anti rejection
drugs and that sort of thing.
Speaker 5 (30:20):
Oh, boy, yes you do.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
I basically had like a pill planner the size of
like an A four piece.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
Oh my god, you were like an elderly person with
your little web ball.
Speaker 5 (30:31):
Definitely.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
I had it was broken up four times a day,
and I had multiple anti rejection drugs, steroids, painkillers, anti
coagulants like blood clotting. I was pretty much on everything.
But obviously in the early days you're on the really
hard hitting stuff. But you know, they did slowly wean
me off some of the harder anti rejection drugs so
(30:55):
that I was able to do an embryo transfer.
Speaker 5 (30:59):
So originally, when I.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Was talking to the doctors and we were talking about
embryo transfer in Sweden, they were doing them six months
post transplant. But luckily when I had my surgery, they
had already moved to in Sweden doing them three months
post period. So the surgery was January the eleventh, and
(31:22):
then I got my period thirty one days later, and
then three months after that we did an embryo transfer.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
You just don't think that that is going to be
the timeline, like.
Speaker 5 (31:30):
It's so quick.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
I was so quick.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Everything Touchwood had been going really well with my recovery,
so I also was just very I didn't want to
get my hopes up too much. Like, so we had
to fly down for the embryo transfer, my husband and I,
and he was sort of a bit guarded as well.
He was like, your body's just been through so much.
Like we had six embryos in the freezer, and we
(31:57):
did the first embryo transfer obviously, and my husband was like,
we'll just see how it goes, Like your body's been
through so much it would be totally understandable if this
just doesn't work. The first time, they gave us, you know,
fifty to fifty the expectations, so I was like, okay,
I did go home and put my feet in the
air and eat salty fries because there are a few
Little Wives tales, and just specifically told not to do
(32:21):
urine tests because I'd been having injections that would then
trick my body so it would come up on a
pea stick. Basically that I had HATECG. So we were
told not to do the test, but obviously I didn't listen.
So I was doing a test every day to see
one of the drugs get out of my system. And
then basically the day that I got the pregnancy test
(32:43):
that had no line on it, just one line, the
control line, I was like, okay, that drugs out of
my body. And then I just kept doing we tests
every morning and then that second line started to come back.
Speaker 5 (32:55):
Oh my god, first embryo.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
Sorry, I feel like I've missed something. So how old
were you at the time. I was thirty thirty, okay,
And why were you doing the transfers and where did
the embryos come from.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
So before we were accepted into the clinical trial, even
if we did sarrogacy, we would have to create embryos anyway,
So we used my eggs and my husband's perm to
create embryos. We did that at the Royal Women's with
doctor Rebecca Dean's and basically she said, look, if you're
not accepted into the clinical trial, you can transfer them
(33:31):
somewhere else and you can use them with the surrogate.
But if you are accepted into the clinical trial, you
have them here ready to go. So basically you couldn't
have the uter's transplant if you didn't have the embryos
ready to go. Okay, because obviously they don't want to
do the you don't want to be on the anti
rejection drugs for any longer than you have to. So
basically everything, all your ducks have to be in a
(33:51):
row before the transplant.
Speaker 4 (33:53):
Yeah, so everything goes swimmingly.
Speaker 5 (33:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
Do they have to do the embers or are you
able to to try to conceive?
Speaker 5 (34:01):
Oh? Naturally? Do you mean?
Speaker 3 (34:04):
I don't know how to ask this, but you know,
like the old fashion way, I wish I would have
loved that because obviously all the medical stuff really takes
the romance out.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
I mean, when you're trying sometimes there really isn't that
much romance.
Speaker 5 (34:17):
No, do it the old fashion way anyway. But no,
it wasn't connected.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
There was no way my ovaries weren't connected to my uterus.
Oh okay, okay, so there's no fallopian tubes connecting them
to the uterus, so there was no way for that
egg to get to where it needed to go.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Yeah, right, right, And then okay, so you've you've found out,
but you've done a little bit of a naughty because
you've been testing and you're not like no, So then
how long before they called you back? Like you do?
Speaker 5 (34:48):
A blood test on day fourteen.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
And that confirmed it, like officially confirmed.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
And then my doctor called me. My husband was at home.
I planned for him because they had rang me and said, look,
we need to make an appointment for doctor Deans to
call you with the blood test results. I'd made my
husband come home, and as soon as I got the
good news, I think I like hurried her off the
phone because I just wanted to call my mom. Yeah
it was I basically shouted at Nick, I'm like, oh,
(35:16):
your mom, because I wanted to tell them at the
same time. So my husband's like, oh, okay, so yeah,
and then I was like, quick, mom, yes I'm pregnant.
Speaker 5 (35:25):
Quick tell dad, ring dad. And I just wanted to share.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
The news because everyone had been on the journey with us,
and like, I was just so excited. And again, you're
still waiting with baited breath everyone that's going through the
fertility trenches, whether that's you know, secondary in fertility, like
you realize sometimes that there's never a time you can
really exhale. But no, I was like, Okay, we've got
(35:50):
to this part, like the eggs where it needs to
be it's implanted. The blood test is saying I'm pregnant,
I'm pregnant. Okay, I'm treating myself as pregnant. So I
think I was like, yeah, they say like five weeks
pregnant or something.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
And then what was the pregnancy like then, like you've
you know, you're letting yourself kind of enjoy that moment
of being pregnant. But I'm imagining like that in my
experience with this pregnancy that I have. Now, after my
first loss, I'd take nothing for granted, so one hundred percent.
Speaker 5 (36:18):
So I mean I was being watched like a hawk.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
I was really lucky that I had a team in
Coughs and a team in Sydney, and once I got
to twelve weeks, I basically saw the team in Sydney
once a month, but then the alternate week I would
see my Coughs team. So I had a gynecologist and
a midwife in Coughs as well, and a midwife that
ended up looking after me for Henry's so my second pregnancy,
(36:42):
Henry was one of the midwives that looked after me
with Violet. So that was really like felt full circle
and just really nice that she knew my family and
my husband spent a lot of time with her when
I was in ICU and stuff, so he really loved
her as well. Shout out to Jen if you're listening.
She was amazing. So my husband was like, oh, I
(37:02):
just have so much confidence knowing that Jen is there
as well.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
But yeah, it's just annuity, Okay, someone that knows your
whole story and yeah, joining halfway through, yeah.
Speaker 5 (37:13):
Yeah, and just again with your second, like you are
really busy because you've got a first.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
You know, some people are still working. I was still
working three days a week and trying to travel to Sydney,
and I was having blood tests as well for my
levels for my ANI rejection drugs, like this is just
all part and parcel of the clinical trial. So I
was definitely trying to see the glimmers, like trying to
find the silver linings to things like trying to and
(37:39):
definitely not taking any week. For granted, I was taking
like with Violet, I think I took like a few
bump photos, but I you know, I definitely wasn't taking
them every week. With Henry, I was taking them every
single week. I was sending a picture to my mom
being like I'm thirteen weeks, I'm fourteen weeks, I'm you know,
and I was had my hand on my tummy like
I don't know, I just didn't take it, yeah, yeah,
(38:02):
And just wanting my daughter to be a part of
that journey as well and getting her included. And my
pregnancy was really similar to that of violets. I had
a little bit of morning sickness in the beginning. It
was like halfway I think I was like twenty weeks
and I stopped performiting. But no, it was really similar.
I felt big and huge and pregnant.
Speaker 4 (38:22):
How old. Was Violet through this?
Speaker 5 (38:25):
She was too.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
Okay, okay, And how does she sort of go with like,
you know, obviously you were sort of traveling a lot
and with the surgeries and that sort of thing. I mean,
I guess she just didn't know any better, but like,
how did you explain different things to a two year old?
Speaker 2 (38:44):
So basically, just as much as age appropriate as we could. Yeah,
we explained, like nanny gave mummy something because mummy couldn't
have a baby, so you need to be careful of
mummy's tummy. Like, and I've got a big scar, like
I said, so from my bellydding down to my and
we together.
Speaker 5 (39:00):
So she's like, that's where the baby would come out
of your head.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
So and she points to the other scar and she's
like that's where I came on at all, you know.
So and basically she would come to my bod test appointments.
We involved her a lot, so she was really used
to like, yeah, mummy needs to go to the doctor.
The doctor looks at mummy's belly, and my midwife would
come to my home so she would use the doppler
and let Violet hold the doppler and be like that's
(39:25):
your brother's like your baby's heartbeat, and and Violet's great now.
She always says like, oh, I want to be a doctor,
and she has a little stethoscope and she's the only
thing that I will say that really took a toll
was because I was on the anti rejection drugs. I
was really immunosuppressed, so I was very susceptible at picking
up all of Violet's daycare germs that she was bringing home.
(39:47):
And there were a couple of times that I got
really on well, very quickly, and that's just what happens
when you're immunosuppressed. And I was rushed to hospital. So
there was a few times that if Violet didn't understand
why Mummy just you'd wake up in the morning and
Mummy wasn't there because I'd been rushed to hospital. Especially
also those Sydney days that I would be going to
my appointments, I often would fly really early in the morning,
(40:09):
like six point thirty, and then I wouldn't get back
until eight o'clock that night, and so Violet would already
be in bed and she didn't enjoy those days just
because Mummy was obviously away, Like the whole day she
was yeah, and she but the next day she'd understand.
I'd be like, oh, Mummy went to see the doctor,
and I would be trying to take a few photos
of the airport and bring her home a little surprise
every now and then, And even the surprises like didn't
(40:31):
even have to be anything special, Like sometimes I'd just
give her my plane ticket and be like this was
Mummy's plane ticket, Like yeah, yeah, so just yeah, trying
to explain and the best you can.
Speaker 3 (40:46):
All of these specialists and all of these flights and
everything that all adds up. Sorry to talk about money,
but like anyone playing along at home is going to
be like this sounds like a very expensive process. So
is anything covered by private health? Is much covered by
Medicare Like.
Speaker 5 (41:04):
No to private health.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Sorry, I do have hospital cover, so a tiny little bit,
but basically the actual surgery because it was part of
the clinical trial, I wasn't builed for. Okay, medications I cover,
so all the IVF stuff or the anti rejection stuff.
Most of my appointments in coughs because I was high risk,
were built with Medicare, like the ultrasounds and things like that.
(41:28):
There's also a really wonderful charity that works alongside the
Royal Women's that could help me out sometimes when I
needed help. So look, it's a little bit of everything.
Speaker 5 (41:39):
Yeah. Also, yeah it does add up.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
But also doing any sort of fertility treatment is really expensive,
so you sort of expect it, and I think when
it's for another baby, you just I don't want to say,
turn a blind eye, but you're like, it's worth it.
Speaker 5 (42:00):
It is what it is.
Speaker 3 (42:01):
And yeah, it's not money that you're going to regret spending,
is it correct?
Speaker 2 (42:05):
Yeah, And I mean touch wood again, I was having
very good outcomes, so yeah, that's very different to someone.
Speaker 4 (42:13):
That's you know, how defeating it would be when something is.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
Five embryo transfers, ten embryo transfers, like I was very,
very very lucky.
Speaker 3 (42:20):
Yeah, and okay, so can we move on to Henry's birth.
I want to hear about it, like but and also
were you terrified because after Violet's birth you must have
did you have to do like a lot of work
preparing yourself mentally?
Speaker 2 (42:35):
Yes, For a period of time whilst I was pregnant,
I just was like too high basket, let's not think
about it. But then it got to the point where Obviously,
my specialists in Sydney, they both Doctor Shanned and Doctor Lines,
were ready to talk about it and like, but that
was really good for me.
Speaker 5 (42:50):
I like information. I like being told.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
I think that's also another reason I like to share
my story about violence birth and the hysterectomy is because
leading up to violence Bath, I felt like I had
done so much preparation. I'd done hypno birthing. I had
bought all the things, drank all the stuff done, all
the walking done, all the stretching, like listen to all
the podcasts in the world. I thought I knew everything
(43:13):
that could happen. And then to wake up and have
had a hysterect to me, I was like, no one
told me about that.
Speaker 4 (43:18):
Yeah, I didn't hear that one.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
And obviously for some people they prefer less information, but yeah,
for me, definitely, I like to be really informed. So
when my team started talking to me about what the
birth would be like, it was a plants arian. It
has to be a plants arian at thirty seven weeks,
just so not to put pressure on the uterus, because
obviously we're trying to avoid uterine rupture and that can
(43:43):
happen after transplants and they basically are like, you are
not going past thirty seven weeks, but also people do
go early. So from thirty four weeks I moved from
my home to Sydney so I could be really close
to the hospital.
Speaker 5 (43:57):
I was walking distance. Everyone was going over me with
a fine tooth comb.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
So being a part of the clinical trial, I also
had access to appointments to look after my mental health
as well, and they were checking in and just everyone
really understood where I was coming from that I'd had
a hysterectomy. And I also requested for my mum to
be in there for the birth. So not only did
I have my husband there holding my hand during Henry's birth,
(44:22):
but Mum was gowned up and in the anesthetic bay,
and then once Henry was brought up and out of
the curtain that he was given to the specialist pediatricians
and went with my husband, But my mum got to
come over and hold my hand while they was selling
me up, and that was the bit I was really
really scared about anyway, So it was really nice having
(44:42):
I mean I knew everyone in that room, but it
was really nice having my mom there to hold my hand.
Speaker 3 (44:47):
Yeah, it's so incredible and like you can tell him
you and him grew in the same womb.
Speaker 5 (44:54):
Yeah, Me, my brother and Henry all grew in the
same womb.
Speaker 4 (44:57):
That's so cool.
Speaker 2 (44:59):
And it was just a beautiful experience. Like honestly, my
mum and my husband and I walked to the hospital
the morning of my plan ses arian, I wasn't allowed
to coffee, but they were. I was a bit I
wasn't very happy about that because I loved my first
coffee of the morning.
Speaker 5 (45:13):
But yeah, it was just so lovely, Like I walked
in and everyone was so excited because they knew we
were meeting my baby.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
And I don't know if that's just the difference between
an emergencies is arian.
Speaker 3 (45:25):
Everyone I know that's had an elective the second time
around has been like, why was it such a nice experience?
Speaker 5 (45:31):
Like so it was.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
It went really really well. I barely lost any well
I had. I lost three or four leaders to me,
I felt great, Like they was saying, you know, how
are you feeling? You know, And I had no symptoms
from the blood loss, but.
Speaker 3 (45:45):
That's still a lot of blood to lose, Like I know,
but I know it's not eleven.
Speaker 4 (45:51):
But like did they say, why you bleed so much?
Speaker 2 (45:54):
Like again, because they were checking everything out. Okay, so
they opened me up and down because they wanted to
and to just close all those layers. And because yeah
it was instead of a cross ways instead of your
bikini line. They did that one the same way they
did the uterus transplant, so that one was up and down.
Speaker 3 (46:14):
So that was that's a big area to be awake
for as well, though like yeah, it's.
Speaker 5 (46:19):
It's a lot of rummaging. But again in comparison, it
was it's so gross. I was really.
Speaker 2 (46:24):
Lucky because Yanna took my phone and she filmed him
coming out. I've got this beautiful video of him like
coming out of my tummy. I made the comment that
I didn't get to see my placenta with Violet. She
made it a thing of like taking a photo of
Henry's placenta, And yeah, I was just so lucky, Like
not only did I have my husband and my my mom,
(46:48):
but I had like my amazing team with me and
Yana taking photos. And then when I went into recovery,
like I got to see my dad there and then
like it was just straight away.
Speaker 5 (46:58):
Soon as we got into recovery.
Speaker 2 (47:01):
Mum said to me that went really really well, and
I said, yeah, yeah, it did. And she said, you
want to have another baby, don't you.
Speaker 4 (47:07):
Oh.
Speaker 5 (47:07):
I was like, yes, yes, I do.
Speaker 1 (47:09):
It chills because that was going to be my next question.
It's like, how could you not want to do it
all over again when it was such a beautiful experience.
Speaker 2 (47:18):
Well, I actually am three months post second history to me,
So when you're part of the clinical trial, they say
to you two live birds or five years. That's the
limit on how long you can have the uterus, right,
because obviously they want to get you off the anti
rejection drug, so I can't just keep the uterus like
(47:41):
I would have loved to have just kept it.
Speaker 5 (47:42):
But those anti rejection drugs suck, so obviously I wanted
to get off those.
Speaker 2 (47:47):
But basically part of that planning for the land cesarian
of Henry, they said, do you want to have a hysterectomy?
Speaker 5 (47:54):
At that stage, you'll stay awake, we'll do the cesarean.
Speaker 2 (47:57):
Basically Henry will be born and then we would knock
you out and do the hysterectomy. But I was still
very unsure because I've already got another child.
Speaker 5 (48:07):
As well.
Speaker 2 (48:07):
If you had asked Kirsty whilst I was pregnant with
Violet how many kids I wanted, I always said three.
My husband's got a brother and a sister. It's just
my brother and I and were thick as thieves. But
I always begged my mum for a sister. And I
don't know, I just always grew up thinking I would
have three kids. So, you know, before the uterus transplant,
(48:30):
I was like, if I get the chance, I will
have two more children, and Violet will have two more siblings.
But once going through that and realizing how lucky we
were and how touch would we didn't really have any hiccups.
Like I was very very lucky, like Henry was very healthy.
I did get gestational diabetes, but that was really controlled
(48:51):
with insulin with the needle, So I don't know, I
just felt like I had had such a good experience anyway,
So basically they said, don't make any decisions, we'll just
have a chat about this in six months time. And
then when that came up, by that stage, so three
months postpardon, I started bleeding and then it just never stopped.
(49:12):
I was in organ rejection. So they were doing biopsies
of my uterus, and basically they said, nope, you'reine rejection.
So we think maybe some of the amniotic fluid from
Henry got into my uterus and then it started attacking
my uterus. Said hey, this isn't the right thing. And
so my body started to attack the uterus and I
(49:33):
had some treatment to treat the rejection, but it was
making me really, really sick, and I was having to
be in hospital, away from my baby and from Violet.
And we ended up as a family making decision that
you know, we had two beautiful, healthy children, and you know,
touch Wood, I hadn't had too many hiccups and too
(49:53):
many complications, and that I was ready to have that
second hysterectomy.
Speaker 3 (49:59):
So months post his diectomy. Now, yeah, and how are
you feeling great?
Speaker 4 (50:05):
I feel, my God that I'm so good.
Speaker 5 (50:08):
I'm weaning off mine.
Speaker 4 (50:09):
You've got all the drugs out of your system.
Speaker 2 (50:12):
Not quite, so I'm still weaning. You've got to do
that slowly because obviously I had so many my Siah,
I'm weaning off the steroids really slowly. But Touchwood, in
the new year, I will be drug free. I will
be anti rejection, drug free.
Speaker 3 (50:28):
That's incredible, and you've got your two beautiful babies and
you've made history.
Speaker 2 (50:33):
Yeah, and hopefully so as far as I know, there's
been three other uterus transplants. Now I only know the
lady that went second. So the lady that went second,
she has a baby girl named Rose. So there's been
one baby boy and one baby girl born in Australia
from uterus transplant.
Speaker 1 (50:51):
It's really cool and I'm just isn't science amazing? It's amazing.
Speaker 5 (50:55):
And women's bodies of.
Speaker 1 (50:57):
Course, I mean, yeah, it goes without saying powerhouse, it does.
Speaker 5 (51:01):
Here we are.
Speaker 1 (51:02):
But I just love that perspective that you had and
that you could say goodbye to that second uterus and
just be like, no, we've done our dash. This is
what we need, like our families complete.
Speaker 2 (51:13):
Yeah, and look, I don't know if I can definitely
definitely say yes, our family is complete, but this part
of our our family making journey, this part is closed.
Speaker 5 (51:23):
My body. I've been through a lot and I've had enough.
Speaker 2 (51:27):
You know, in the future, you know, we may look
at something else, but at the moment, we are content.
And I am just so grateful for the opportunity from
the Royal Women's and from all the people that all
the doctors and nurses that looked after us and looked
after my mum and looked after Henry. I'm just really
looking forward to touchwood. Hopefully are really cruisy twenty twenty five,
(51:49):
not too many hospital visits, not too many doctors' visits,
you know, just really getting to enjoy my children.
Speaker 1 (51:55):
Yeah, definitely. It's been a long journey because you've had
to do it pretty quickly, one after the other, and
it hasn't been easy. It's kind of nice just to enjoy, like.
Speaker 2 (52:04):
Yeah, and I hate that word. I hate the word journey,
but it has felt like a journey. And you know,
there's been so many milestones. But as a parent, you
guys probably say the same thing. You're like, next week
it'll get better. Yes, we could all get better, but
it's like, hopefully next year will be our year and
we can just like slow down.
Speaker 1 (52:21):
We've got to have the belief at the beginning of
the year that it's going to be get yeah, aimheigh,
Yeah exactly. And so what's it like, I mean, he's
just turned one, Like looking at him, seeing him reaches milestones,
just seeing him as a little person, like does it
just amaze.
Speaker 5 (52:37):
You that definitely.
Speaker 2 (52:38):
And he's just so different to my daughter. So he's
got so many teeth, he's got like eight teeth. He's walking.
He started taking steps like two weeks ago and then
just started basically walking around the house and I was like,
oh my goodness. And then so, yeah, he's just I
used to think, oh, you raise them in the same house,
they'll be similar. But my children are chalk and Cheese
(53:00):
is a soft and my son is just a wild animal.
I love that, which I love, I love, but I
just didn't like as a baby.
Speaker 5 (53:11):
He was a very easy baby. So I kept saying
to everyone, Oh, he's going to be like my husband.
Speaker 2 (53:15):
My husband's a surfar he's very easy going. My husband's
very you know, very cruisy. Henry is going to be
just like his dad. And then my daughter's always like.
Speaker 5 (53:24):
Mom, he's so rough. He's so rough with me.
Speaker 2 (53:27):
And I'm like, Violet, just you put your hand out
and you say no, Hongry, I don't like it, yes,
gentle hands. But yeah, he's he's just such a boy.
Speaker 1 (53:36):
I feel like he had to have that kind of
demeanor because he just really really wanted.
Speaker 4 (53:41):
To be here.
Speaker 1 (53:42):
You know he really wanted to be here, so he's
living life to the fullest. He's rough and humble. I
love it. Final question, what's surprised you the most? What
did you learn about yourself?
Speaker 2 (53:52):
I think there's there's been lots of challenges along the way,
but I'm just really, really, really proud of myself that
I've been able to get up every day and be grateful.
Speaker 5 (54:04):
And it's not easy.
Speaker 2 (54:06):
The drugs make you feel crap, and when you've got
a kid and you're pregnant, and because I was obviously
well key, you would totally understand, but yeah, still on
a pregnancy, but any pregnancy, some people look get nice
and easy and you know, but it's hard. So I'm
just really proud that I tried to see the positive
and I just kept turning up and doing what I
(54:28):
could do.
Speaker 5 (54:29):
And you know, I had to ask for help.
Speaker 2 (54:32):
Like obviously to get to this stage, I did have
to ask my mum for her uterus, so you know,
I did have to ask for things. So I think
I'm just getting to the point where I'm getting more
comfortable within asking for what I need and for asking
for help and then also accepting that help because yeah,
it's really hard sometimes as a mum when you just
want to do and be everywhere all the time. To
(54:54):
then accept that help as well.
Speaker 1 (54:57):
It feels like that's almost your full circle kind of lesson,
because remember when you were talking in the hospital about
you were kind of fawning and trying to keep it
all together, and you know, you were scared to kind
of let anyone know that you were struggling to now
like being like, I'm actually so proud of myself for
asking for and accepting the help.
Speaker 5 (55:17):
Yes, because yeah, a problem shared is definitely a problem halved.
And I think you actually key you were only talking
about this the other day. You were saying, once you
started talking about how you were feeling, you felt a
little better.
Speaker 1 (55:29):
The weight lifts.
Speaker 4 (55:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (55:30):
Yeah, I feel like it's only you. You feel supported,
it doesn't feel as isolating. Yeah, definitely. Thanks obviously, Well
was women here talking to white so wise? Well, thank
you so much. That was just the most interesting, beautiful, entertaining,
joyful conversation I think I've had in a long time.
(55:52):
And I just thank you so a lot.
Speaker 5 (55:53):
But the way it is a lot of infertility, Thank you,
thank you.
Speaker 3 (55:56):
I feel like a little bit flustered because I'm like,
where is the presence of someone that has changed history?
Speaker 5 (56:02):
Oh? Remember I was just the patient, but yes.
Speaker 3 (56:07):
No, no, your body was used and you are a
huge part of that.
Speaker 2 (56:11):
I'm internally grateful for doctor Matt Branstrom, the Royal Women's
the clinical trial, because yeah, I would never have been
able to carry another child, and I'm so grateful that
I did get to have that opportunity.
Speaker 3 (56:25):
I hope everyone enjoyed listening to that chat as much
as we enjoyed having it. She is just incredible and
she's also just like a really good speaker.
Speaker 1 (56:35):
She's very eloquent, such a good storyteller. I was on
the edge of my seat the whole time during that nur. Yes,
it was really good and.
Speaker 4 (56:41):
She knew all the good we ask.
Speaker 1 (56:45):
Yeah exactly. So thank you Kirsty so much for sharing
your story.
Speaker 4 (56:48):
And thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 3 (56:50):
Make sure you share the pod on your socials, spread
this incredible story far and wide, and please make sure
you rate and review us. You can find us on
Instagram at Key Reese and at Kelly Underscore McCarron, and
at essi Dot Pod.
Speaker 1 (57:05):
This episode was produced by us Key and kel with
audio production by our lovely producer Madeline Joanna Bye Bye
We acknowledged the traditional custodians of the land we're recording
on today.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
I started asking for my mom and my husband and
they said no, this is a life saving hysterectomy, and
I said okay, and that's when they said, we'll put
you to sleep now. So then I went to sleep
and woke up in the ICU forty eight hours later.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Hello, and welcome back to Eat Sleep, Shit, Repeat, your
unhinged podcast all about the madness that is motherhood and
everything in between.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I'm Kyri Souls, I'm Kelly McCarron and in case you
missed last week's episode, we talked toddlers and bullying, what
happens when you've got the bad kid and should we
be worried?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Yes, and thank you so much to the shitters for
sharing their experiences and our dms. It made us have
a we chuckle and feel a lot. Seen on the show. Today,
we're talking to a lovely shitter, Kirsty, who was Australia's
first uterus transplant recipient. Her mum, Michelle, was her donor.
It's a fascinating story and one that we are so
(01:00):
so excited to share far and wide. Modern medicine is
kind of amazing, and we also get into the emotional
side of doing something so groundbreaking.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Honestly, I'm so excited for this to be going live
because everyone I've told about this conversation afterwards was like
what yeah, yeah, I spent my whole summer holidays being.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Like we are interviewing Kirsty the first and they were like.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Wow, yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
A little reminder, because we have pre recorded this before
the bearbit arrives, we aren't doing Pecan Pit as we
thought they could age quite badly, but don't worry. It
will be back as soon as we're back to our
regular recording schedule.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
That's right, let's get into it. So we first heard
from Kirsty after Cal asked you the shit is for
your amazing stories, and well this one truly takes the cake.
So Kirsty responded saying, Hi, ladies, love the pod. My
name is Kirsty and I was Australia's first uterus transplant recipient.
My mum, Michelle was my donor. The transplant surgery was
(01:55):
successful and I was able to carry another child. That
child is my son, Hena, who turned one in December.
I would love to share my story of secondary and
fertility and the uterus transplant clinical trial. We could not
be more excited to talk to Kirsty today and share
her story with our lovely community here. She is well welcome, Kirsty.
(02:16):
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, where
you live, who lives with you, and what keeps you busy?
Speaker 5 (02:21):
Hi, ladies.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I live on the mid north coast of New South Wales.
I live with my husband Nicholas and our two children,
my daughter who's three and a half, Violet, and my
son Henry, and he is one.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
So talk us through your journey of deciding to have
kids and what your fertility journey looked like.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
My husband and I we got engaged, we got married,
than that little thing COVID sort of ruined our plans
of going on a honeymoon, and we had a chat
and sort of said, well, if we're not going on holidays,
we always want children.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
But we hadn't, you know, actively tried.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
So I said, oh, look it could take you know,
six or twelve months, we should just start trying for
a baby. And that next month I did a pregnancy
test and we were pregnant. I lost that pregnancy early
on and went back to my GP, and he said,
you know, have a natural period and then when you're ready,
(03:26):
you can try again. So I had a period, and
then that next month we tried again. We fell pregnant
with Violet. I was referred to the MGP program, which
is the Midway Free group practice. So I had some
lovely midwives a fairly easy pregnancy. I was still working,
and then when I went into labor, Violet was posterior,
(03:50):
so her spine to my spine, and I was getting
really dreadful back pain. I had been into the hospit
and seeing the midwives and it was confirmed she was posterior.
We were given like a sheet of very wonderful stretches
and positions to get into to relieve pain, but also
(04:12):
to see if Violet would flip around. She did not
do that, and then I labored a little bit longer
at home, got to seven centimeters, went to the hospital,
got the feeling that I needed to push, got to
ten centimeters, started pushing, and then instead of Violet tucking
her chin to her chest, she went the other way
(04:32):
and tried to come out eyeballs first.
Speaker 5 (04:35):
So she was very lost. She had no idea what
she was doing.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
The poor thing so that also stopped the doctors being
able to use sort of any interventions I.
Speaker 5 (04:45):
Force its or suction.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
So then I went in for an emergency cesarean. Violet
was born a little after one o'clock in the morning,
and she was happy and healthy and crying, and I
got to give her a little kiss, and then my
midwife and my husband went down to the birthing floor
maternity and it was whilst I was still in the
(05:10):
bed the surgery plank that I had a postpartum hemorrhage
and I lost eleven liters of blood, so that was
my body's volumed twice over and they had to perform
a life saving hystery to me.
Speaker 5 (05:24):
Basically, oh wow, were you awake? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
So the first thing I realized that alerted everyone to
the issue was I was getting pain in my back,
which obviously I'd had an epidural, I shouldn't be able
to feel pain. And then I started vomiting ferociously, and
basically because I was losing my blood, I became hypoxic,
so I didn't have enough oxygen traveling around my body.
Speaker 5 (05:50):
But yes, I was awake.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
And then basically, once it was an emergency sort of
everyone started coming back in and they were getting more
teams of people and basically they lowered the curtain and
just said, no, we need to do a hysterect to me.
And I said no, and I started asking for my
mum and my husband and they said no, this is
a life saving hysterect to me, and I said okay.
(06:12):
And that's when because the anethetist, you know how they
sort of stayed behind your head and yeah, sort of
looking over.
Speaker 5 (06:17):
The top of you. They said, we'll put you to
sleep now.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
So yeah, then I went to sleep and woke up
in the ICU forty eight hours later.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Did you go to sleep thinking, oh my god, I'm
going to die like that is horrifying.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I went to sleep thinking, goodness, me put me to sleep.
I can't yea, yeah, listen to this anymore. And honestly,
I knew it was really bad, but there was just
something innately in me that I knew I was fighting
and I just wanted to meet my baby.
Speaker 5 (06:48):
So yeah, the second I.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Woke up, the nurse came in and she's like, oh,
go get your husband. And I was in the ICU,
so they were on maternity, so they brought Violet in
with the little bassinett on wheels, and because I'd lost
so much blood, I was a little bit woozy, And
because I was with the MGP and I was really
clear with my birth plan that I wanted to breastfeed,
(07:11):
the midwives had actually been milking my breasts and feeding
Violet the colostrum.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
The midwives are the best people.
Speaker 5 (07:19):
They're phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I know, they're just above and beyond obviously trying to
one create that connection with me, but also yet trying
to feel that wish of mine of wanting to be
able to breastfeed. And Yeah, to be honest, when I
woke up, I knew what had happened. I remembered everything
that had happened. I remembered that they told me that
(07:40):
I was going to have a hysterectomy. In my head,
I assumed that they only took my uterus. That was
confirmed by doctors and nurses pretty much straight away. Yes,
it was just your uterus. You still have your ovaries.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
So if you've lost your uterus but kept everything else,
you won't go through menopause correct, correct, very crept.
Speaker 5 (07:57):
Yeah, And in my head, I wasn't even thinking about menopause.
I was thinking oh.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
My god, with my brain, I'm like, not menopause. That's awful.
You've got a new one end of going through menopause.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Well, that obviously is something you would have to think about.
But to me immediately, while it was my first baby,
I knew I wanted to have a gaggle of children,
like I wanted to have more children. So as soon
as I heard that I had my ovaries, I was like, okay, ding, ding,
I can have more biological children. So pretty much, once
(08:27):
we got back down to maternity and I got out
of ICU, they started talking to me about sarrogacy. Like
the midwife started saying, when you're ready, we can talk
to you about sarrogacy. We have policies at our hospital
that you could birth here with the midwife.
Speaker 5 (08:41):
So they were very open and honest.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
It was maybe a little bit too soon, but I
appreciate it because again they knew my wishes. I had
made it very clear that I wanted to have more children.
So yeah, I mean I appreciated the conversations.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
When they were talking to you, Did they tell you why,
like what had happened?
Speaker 5 (09:01):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
And no, So yes, we knew that i'd had at
this massive bleed. But they ended up doing like an
RCA report, which is just like a report of everything
that went wrong, and we were able to do a
debrief with the hospital and that was probably when we
got more idea of exactly what went down and what happened.
(09:22):
But basically, my uterus just didn't contract because there was
just so much pressure and I'd been pushing for so long,
and they think again that was because of Violet being posterior,
and I just had a massive postpartum hemorrhage.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
So you've woken up and ice you, they've taken you
back down. You know, you're with your Harvey, with baby.
You've taken all this information and you're really thankful for
the life saving surgery. You've got your baby. But was
there a period of mourning or did that come kind
of like at a later stage, like what was your
I guess your mental state.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Like behind closed door, I was a wreck, but I
definitely can see now with hindsight, like my daughter was
born in April twenty twenty one hindsight, I was definitely fawning.
I definitely didn't want to be a pain. I didn't
want to be a terrible patient. I think I just wanted.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
I wanted just to be a normal mum.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
But also, yeah, I definitely think I was fawning a
little bit and a little bit later on, like there
was just lots of appointments, lots of follow ups. I
had to see GPS, and then I had to see
I've got to call it. Like, there was just a
lot of things happening. I definitely was a little bit
worried that if I showed any weak not weakness, but
(10:38):
this is just what I was thinking in my head.
I don't want anyone to take away my baby, so
I need to put my best foot forward and pretend
like everything's okay.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
I think that's such a normal reaction because you've just
like you've had your baby taken away already, you know,
like you had that degree of separation from her. Can
I just ask you, though, what was the recovery like,
just because I'm just thinking you've had a Caesar, but
then you've also had a hysterectomy.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Correct, And I also had a stent placed in one
of my urytors because when they did the hysterectomy, they
caught my urrota in a suture, so I'd had a
stent place, which meant that when I was six weeks
postparted and they wanted me to have day surgery to
have the stent removed. Oh wow, I mean Touchwood. I
can laugh about it now. At Touchwood, everything was fine.
(11:25):
My urrotor is fine, I can use the bathroom. It
was just very traumatizing having to go back to the
hospital so soon after, and I was again stressed about
breastfeeding and having a general anesthetic and being away from
my baby.
Speaker 5 (11:38):
But everything was okay.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
I've got a very my husband's very hands on obviously
because I needed lots and lots of help, and I've
got lots of family that lives very close by, so
I have been really supported.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
But I could pick Violet up. That was my limit.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
So I was allowed to pick baby up, but basically
I couldn't push the prem. I couldn't take the prem
in and out of the car. So basically I did
nothing for the first six weeks. I just stayed at
home and stayed with Violet, and whilst my husband was home,
we did go down to like the local.
Speaker 5 (12:11):
Coffee shop and have a coffee.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
But basically I just stayed in that baby bubble and
I just stayed home where I felt really safe. Yeah,
but I mean overall, now I've had lots of surgeries.
My sea section, the first my sea section with the
historic to me, it wasn't really that painful uncomfortable, definitely, yes,
but by the time I have.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
A reference to a lot more invasive.
Speaker 5 (12:38):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
So, and I mean my sea section was a traditional
sea section, so like hip to hip, whereas my uterus
transplant was up and down, so it went from my belly.
Speaker 5 (12:48):
Button to my pelvis.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
And that was incredibly painful and incredibly hard because they
cut through all of your muscle, so I had like
no stomach muscles, whereas after my cesarean and my first systectomy,
I felt weak. And I think, I mean, I assume
you both remember that feeling of your tummy like contracting
back after having like your baby growing in there. You
(13:12):
have that really like jelly loose jelly sensation. So yeah,
I had a little obviously that but that's very you know,
normal postpartum jelly belly feeling.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
But yeah, it was just a bit slow and yeah,
that easy.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
So then how long after because obviously you've talked about
like lots of follow up, which of course it would
be and then you've had to also have that day surgery.
How long after Violet's birth did the opportunity to be
in the uterus transplant clinical trial come up?
Speaker 2 (13:42):
So Violet was six months old and she had gone
down for a sleep, and I had been just furiously
researching my options. Both my mum and my sister in
law had pretty much straightaway offered to be surrogates if
(14:04):
and when I wanted to have more children. But after
my birthing experience, I think I was just really worried
about putting people that I love in that situation. The
thought of losing my mum or my sister in law,
I just thought it was too big of a risk.
My sister in law had birth both my niece and
my nephew like a champion. She's amazing birth just agrees
(14:26):
with her. She had these really incredible birthing experiences. My
mom was the same. She was very young, fit and healthy,
and she had two vaginal births.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
Good on her.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
But so yeah, they both offered to be surrogates if
and when we chose to have more children. But I
just really really had this urge that I wanted to
be pregnant again, even though I had no uterus, so
I had nowhere to have that baby. I just thought
to myself, like, we do heart transplants, we do lung transplants,
(14:58):
Like why on Earth can't we do a uterus transplant?
Speaker 5 (15:01):
Like why can't I have the organ that was removed replaced?
Speaker 4 (15:05):
It was actually you that came up with the idea,
is it them?
Speaker 5 (15:10):
Well?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
I jumped on the internet, as you do, and I
was in a couple of Facebook groups, but nothing was
proving fruitful. But I basically just found the website for
the clinical trial. It looked old, it looked like it
hadn't been updated. There wasn't any new information on there.
And I just found an email address and that email
address went to Yana Pittman. So doctor Jana Pittman. So
(15:33):
I shot off an email. She replied pretty much straight
away with the requirements to be accepted into the clinical trial.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
So I got off the phone.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
I rang my mum and I said, hey, Mom, like, hypothetically,
if you could have a hysterectomy and I could have
your uterus and have another baby, would you do it?
Speaker 5 (15:55):
And she said where?
Speaker 2 (15:56):
And I said Sydney, And she said, oh, okay, I'll
talk to your dad, But yeah, that sounds fine, and
I said, okay, bye, hung up from her.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
And Mary, God, how old is your mum or was
your mum at the time?
Speaker 5 (16:08):
Fifty?
Speaker 4 (16:09):
She's a young mum.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Yeah, my mom was in early twenties when she had
me and was married and mum was yet. So my
mum and I are really good friends, like we talk
most mornings, and we were still talking about, you know,
getting periods and stuff. So I knew Mom still got
a period. I just needed to know if I could
have her uterus.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
She still got a period of fifty that also, that
poor woman. Isn't part of the thing about getting older
that you don't get your period anymore?
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Well, she was perry, okay, but she was still getting
a period, and that's all I really.
Speaker 5 (16:40):
Well, sorry, Mom, I'm.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Talking about this is so transactional, but I mean it
does really sound like I was just asking it out
for lunch. But yes, I did ask her for an
organ in like a two minute phone call while she
was at work.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
You guys would have been talking since that you had
your hysterectomy, and she would have known, you know.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Yeah, she knew my desires and she's already offered up parrogacy,
so correct, So you're just asking, okay, Mom, but we
just you.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
Know, you put it into me.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
Also, I think with people you love, you kind of
can be a little bit more open with people like
I literally just dropped into conversation one day when I
was talking to my girlfriend on the phone, which was
about her fertility stuff that she's going through. I was like, oh,
and just so you know, you don't have to be
weird about it or anything, but I've got lots of
eggs if you'd like any.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
And she's kind of like, what, But I'm like, I
don't know.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
With friends, you kind of and people you love that
our family, you just can kind of be like by
the way, you know.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
But Kelly you are.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
I wouldn't say we're super similar, but we're direct and correct.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
Yeah. Yeah, no time to fuck around.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
There's no beating not with fertility. We do not have
time to mic around.
Speaker 4 (17:43):
Oh my god, exactly.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
And especially because like you said, Mum and I had
had been having these conversations, she knew how much I
did want another child. I did want to have them
in my mind close ish together. So to be a
part of the clinical trial at the Royal women's You
needed to bring a donor, so my mum was my donor.
I'm the recipient. We obviously had to do lots of
(18:07):
tests before we went to Sydney, but we did like
blood tests, ultrasounds, like pretty i want to say, basic,
pretty basic tests. The big big one that was we
were all holding our breath was obviously the tissue matching.
So because it's an organ transplant, my body needed to
be able to accept mum's uterus and we are a
(18:29):
blood type match. But just because your family like mother
and daughter, doesn't mean you'll be tissue matches. But we
were so once we got that tissue match result, I
still didn't know how many people were also doing the
same things we were. But in my head I was like,
just as long as it happens, I'll be happy. And
then it basically was just before Christmas twenty twenty three.
(18:54):
I had a conversation with Yanner and she said, if
you come to Sydney, and there was a few psychological
appointments we all needed to go through, so me, my mum,
my husband, and my dad because obviously it affects them
as well, and being a clinical trial, they're collecting lots
of information so this can obviously, hopefully one day go
on to be an option for people for women. And yeah,
(19:17):
we went to Sydney and we sat down with doctor
Rebecca Dean's and she was head of the program, and
she said, could you guys potentially be here on the
tenth of January And this was like the week before Christmas.
Speaker 5 (19:31):
And I was like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
And you know, I had to obviously have that conversation
with Mum because in our head we thought it was
going to happen in March, and that was obviously bringing
the timeline forward. But Mum basically said, the sooner you
have this uterus transplant, the sooner you can.
Speaker 5 (19:45):
Have a baby. So yeah, let's let's do it.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
And that's when I basically realized we were going to
be the first in Australia.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
So it was a clinical trial in Australia.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
You guys were going to be the first, but it
was it had been done successfully in other countries, correct.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
So we follow the protocol we follow is from Sweden
from doctor MATTX Branstrom. He is a Swedish gynocologist and
he was in Australia in South Australia actually about fifteen
years ago, and he was finishing some of his study
here and he was working with women in oncology, so
women that were losing their uteruses due to cancer treatment.
(20:22):
And it was actually a young woman, I hope I'm
not mincing his story, but it was a young woman
I think she was really early twenties who was going
to have to have a hysterectomy and she said to him,
why can't I have a uterus transplant? And he basically
laughed in her face and said, we don't do uterus transplants.
And then when he finished up his study in Australia,
he went back to Sweden and he just had been
(20:44):
mulling it over and was like, actually, why can't we
do transplants uterus transplants. So he basically started his planning
and basically got it off the ground. So he did
animal studies and the ethical approval and the year they
actually just celebrated, so the first baby ever born with
a uterus transplant was done in Sweden and that little
(21:06):
boy turned ten like a month ago.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
So doctor Matt Branstrom actually came back to Australia and
did my surgery. The doctors that the Royal filmed it
so that they could then go on to use that
as like a learning video.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
That is like how incredible that you and your family
are part of history history you are medical marvels and
like history is going to be written on this and
like science books and like it's so cool.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
It's incredibly cool, especially because if the women in Sweden
didn't put their hands up to be the first, then
I wouldn't be in this position as well. So those
women paved the way for me to be able to
then have a clinical trial in Australia. So when people
ask me, like you were the first, it's so risky.
You know, they told you it might not work, and
(22:00):
if it didn't work, then you know, you wouldn't have
your mum's uterus to then have, you know, for syrucusy
and things like that. But in my mind, I was like,
if we don't try, like it's always a no, Like
I have to give this a go. And I really
did want to carry another pregnancy. I wanted to carry
another baby in my belly.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
What were the chances of it being successful? Like did
they give you the odds?
Speaker 5 (22:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (22:21):
They did, I don't really remember them now, but basically
they were just worried obviously about bleeding again. So after
all the issues with bleeding, we did lots and lots
of tests and basically they came up with no, I
don't have any bleeding disorders, because obviously they were a
little bit worried, but they took my history into consideration
(22:41):
and they just were so meticulously planned, and they did
a run through the day before with all the doctors
and surgeons and instruments because obviously they needed special instruments.
And it's incredible it was still to this day, doctor
Matt's Branstrom actually came back from Sweden when Henry was born.
I'm jumping ahead, but yeah, so it's incredible that he
(23:02):
was there on the day like he performed my surgery,
and then he also was there the day that Henry
was born.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
So the day of the surgery, walk us through, how
are you feeling, how was your mom feeling?
Speaker 4 (23:17):
What was the process?
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Yep, So we went to hospital the day prior, so
we had some blood tests and some final things to do.
We stayed in the hospital overnight and then we woke
up that morning and Mom and I were staying in
a room together.
Speaker 5 (23:31):
So that was so lovely. Loved that our beds were
like opposite.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Each other, so we could just smile at each other
from like across our beds.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
I would have been so comforting to be doing it together.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Oh my gosh, I couldn't have done it without my mom.
I just couldn't. Like, I love my husband and I
love my dad, and they're amazing men, but I couldn't
have done this without my mom.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
She sounds amazing.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
She knew, yeah, how much I wanted to be a
mum and how much I wanted to give Violet a sibling,
and she made that sacrifice, and yeah, she had the hysterectomy.
So the morning of we wake up, they wake us
up at five point thirty. I was allowed to have
a light breakfast. Mum wasn't allowed to have anything because
she was going into surgery straight away. But when I
woke up, I immediately jumped out of bed and I
(24:15):
jumped in her bed, and we just laid in bed
in our hospital beds together, and then one of the
beautiful nurses came in and said, okay, Michelle, go have
a shower, wash yourself down with this very special soap.
And then Mum came out we put the gown, the
surgical gown on her, and then Yanna came up and said,
we're ready for you. We're ready for your mum. So
(24:37):
Mum went down first, which was so hard. So they
wanted to obviously be able to get Mum's uterus out
and then they flushed it before they put me under
general anesthetic because obviously her surgery in itself was going
to take a long time. So I was awake and
just waiting for mum, like waiting for news. So Mum
(24:57):
went in at about six thirty seven clock in the morning,
and then I didn't go in on a general anesthetic
until just after lunch, and then I woke up seven
six seven hours later in recovery.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Had you heard anything about your mum before you went under?
Speaker 2 (25:15):
Yes, So basically they came up and I can't remember
if it was Yana that told us, but someone was
basically like, they're flushing the uterus. Your mom's barely bled,
like she's doing so wonderfully. Everything's looking great. We're really
really happy with how the surgery's going. The surgeons are
having a break and you're going to get put under
(25:35):
general anesthetics. So they took me down, I went into
the anesthetic. They had all the nurses there were all
chatting away. They put me to sleep, and then we
got wheeled next to each other and then they basically
start my surgery from there.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Oh wow, that is just so incredible. I love that
you're a detailed person because I want to know every
single detail.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Well, so what they did, so a normal hystorict me
is just they take your uterus basically, and it just depends,
like sometimes they take the cervix, sometimes they take the
filopian tubes.
Speaker 5 (26:09):
Generally, they tried to.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Leave the ovaries to stop you from going into medical menopause.
So it really just depends why you're having a hysterectomy.
So with Mum, they left one ovary for her and
they took the filopian tubes. They took her uterus and
her cervix, so I actually had Mum's uterus en cervix.
Speaker 5 (26:29):
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
But they had to remove my cervix. So when I
had my surgery, I just had the uterus removed. So
when I had my uterus transplant, they removed my cervix
as well.
Speaker 5 (26:39):
But I mean it's a much in a muchness. It
didn't matter.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
And because your mum kept one of her ovaries. It
meant that she wasn't going like, it wasn't speeding up her.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Correct so she was ari in perimenopause. So I'll go
back to a tiny bit. I wake up in recovery.
I look at Mum. She gives me a thumbs up,
closes her eyes, and basically doctor Matt Branstrom and doctor
Rebecca Dean's are at the end of my bed and
they're just talking away and I'm thinking, oh my gosh,
I'm so tired, Like, just tell me it worked. And
(27:08):
doctor Dean's was like, oh, yes, you have a uterress
it worked. And then I basically just closed my eyes.
I was like, I am so tired. And by this
stage it's like midnight. And then eventually they roll us
back down to our rooms and Mum and I are
in our rooms.
Speaker 5 (27:22):
Together and I see my husband.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
I give my husband a kiss, my dad gives Mom
a kiss, and then we're like, yep, see in the morning.
But yeah, it was successful. I stayed in hospital for
seven days and then I was discharged, but Mum's stayed
in hospital for ten days. Mom's bladder took a long
time to wake up, so when they're doing a hystereipty,
like everything's very compact down in your pelvest, and they
(27:48):
did have to move around the bladder, so Mum's bladder
was asleep, that's what they call it. Basically, her blooder
wasn't working, her bladder forgot to do what it needed
to do. So Mum's stayed in hospital a little bit
and then she did go on to have issues with
her bladder. But at the twelve month mark, all of
a sudden, Mom just started waking up in the morning.
(28:09):
So the issue Mum was having was she didn't have
the feeling that she needed to go, so she couldn't
tell when she needed to go. If she said an
alarm on her phone for every three hours, obviously she
was like, Oh, I need to go to the toilet.
But if she didn't have that alarm, she did wasn't
getting the sensation.
Speaker 5 (28:26):
That she needed to wei right.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
But literally twelve months, almost to the week, Mom started
getting that sensation back, so she'd wake up in the
morning and she said she'd just be like, oh, I
need to use the bathroom, and then she actually didn't
tell me for a couple of days, and then one
morning Mum was driving to work. That's usually when she
calls me, and she said to me, I didn't want
(28:48):
to tell you, and I thought she was going to
tell me something I don't know, something bad, and I
was like yeah, and she was like, I've got the
sensation back. I've been going to the bathroom in the
morning all by myself. And I was like, why didn't
you tell me like a week ago, and she said,
I just couldn't believe it. She's like, I just wanted
it to happen for a couple of days in a
row like I wanted to. And she's like, I didn't
want to tell you, and then it not be consistent.
(29:10):
And I was like, oh, that's so good, because my
mum is very fit and healthy and she goes to
the gym and she loves to run, and it wasn't
a big issue. But it was just one of those
really annoying things from the surgery. And then obviously I
felt guilty that mum was adding issues with her blood
aer So the fact that things have got better and
have improved obviously took a weight off my shoulders.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Oh, of course, the same reason why you didn't want
them to be necessarily be your surrogate because of any risk. Yeah,
the surgery is perfect, You're all good, and then it's like,
but mum's just got this one thing, Like, yeah, that's
going to affect kind of how you feel.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
And obviously you want to be really feel really grateful
because lucky me, like thirty two days post off, I
got a period.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Oh my god.
Speaker 5 (29:57):
So the uterus was doing its job.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
It was credible.
Speaker 5 (30:00):
Yeah, it said, hey, I'm a uterus, I need.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
To wild your body just.
Speaker 5 (30:06):
Like it was bad. Yeah, it wanted to be there.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
And because you know, with all transplants there's risk of rejection,
so what correct is it with a uterus and was there?
You know, don't you have to take like anti rejection
drugs and that sort of thing.
Speaker 5 (30:20):
Oh, boy, yes you do.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
I basically had like a pill planner the size of
like an A four piece.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
Oh my god, you were like an elderly person with
your little web ball.
Speaker 5 (30:31):
Definitely.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
I had it was broken up four times a day,
and I had multiple anti rejection drugs, steroids, painkillers, anti
coagulants like blood clotting. I was pretty much on everything.
But obviously in the early days you're on the really
hard hitting stuff. But you know, they did slowly wean
me off some of the harder anti rejection drugs so
(30:55):
that I was able to do an embryo transfer.
Speaker 5 (30:59):
So originally, when I.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Was talking to the doctors and we were talking about
embryo transfer in Sweden, they were doing them six months
post transplant. But luckily when I had my surgery, they
had already moved to in Sweden doing them three months
post period. So the surgery was January the eleventh, and
(31:22):
then I got my period thirty one days later, and
then three months after that we did an embryo transfer.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
You just don't think that that is going to be
the timeline, like.
Speaker 5 (31:30):
It's so quick.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
I was so quick.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Everything Touchwood had been going really well with my recovery,
so I also was just very I didn't want to
get my hopes up too much. Like, so we had
to fly down for the embryo transfer, my husband and I,
and he was sort of a bit guarded as well.
He was like, your body's just been through so much.
Like we had six embryos in the freezer, and we
(31:57):
did the first embryo transfer obviously, and my husband was like,
we'll just see how it goes, Like your body's been
through so much it would be totally understandable if this
just doesn't work. The first time, they gave us, you know,
fifty to fifty the expectations, so I was like, okay,
I did go home and put my feet in the
air and eat salty fries because there are a few
Little Wives tales, and just specifically told not to do
(32:21):
urine tests because I'd been having injections that would then
trick my body so it would come up on a
pea stick. Basically that I had HATECG. So we were
told not to do the test, but obviously I didn't listen.
So I was doing a test every day to see
one of the drugs get out of my system. And
then basically the day that I got the pregnancy test
(32:43):
that had no line on it, just one line, the
control line, I was like, okay, that drugs out of
my body. And then I just kept doing we tests
every morning and then that second line started to come back.
Speaker 5 (32:55):
Oh my god, first embryo.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
Sorry, I feel like I've missed something. So how old
were you at the time. I was thirty thirty, okay,
And why were you doing the transfers and where did
the embryos come from.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
So before we were accepted into the clinical trial, even
if we did sarrogacy, we would have to create embryos anyway,
So we used my eggs and my husband's perm to
create embryos. We did that at the Royal Women's with
doctor Rebecca Dean's and basically she said, look, if you're
not accepted into the clinical trial, you can transfer them
(33:31):
somewhere else and you can use them with the surrogate.
But if you are accepted into the clinical trial, you
have them here ready to go. So basically you couldn't
have the uter's transplant if you didn't have the embryos
ready to go. Okay, because obviously they don't want to
do the you don't want to be on the anti
rejection drugs for any longer than you have to. So
basically everything, all your ducks have to be in a
(33:51):
row before the transplant.
Speaker 4 (33:53):
Yeah, so everything goes swimmingly.
Speaker 5 (33:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
Do they have to do the embers or are you
able to to try to conceive?
Speaker 5 (34:01):
Oh? Naturally? Do you mean?
Speaker 3 (34:04):
I don't know how to ask this, but you know,
like the old fashion way, I wish I would have
loved that because obviously all the medical stuff really takes
the romance out.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
I mean, when you're trying sometimes there really isn't that
much romance.
Speaker 5 (34:17):
No, do it the old fashion way anyway. But no,
it wasn't connected.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
There was no way my ovaries weren't connected to my uterus.
Oh okay, okay, so there's no fallopian tubes connecting them
to the uterus, so there was no way for that
egg to get to where it needed to go.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Yeah, right, right, And then okay, so you've you've found out,
but you've done a little bit of a naughty because
you've been testing and you're not like no, So then
how long before they called you back? Like you do?
Speaker 5 (34:48):
A blood test on day fourteen.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
And that confirmed it, like officially confirmed.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
And then my doctor called me. My husband was at home.
I planned for him because they had rang me and said, look,
we need to make an appointment for doctor Deans to
call you with the blood test results. I'd made my
husband come home, and as soon as I got the
good news, I think I like hurried her off the
phone because I just wanted to call my mom. Yeah
it was I basically shouted at Nick, I'm like, oh,
(35:16):
your mom, because I wanted to tell them at the
same time. So my husband's like, oh, okay, so yeah,
and then I was like, quick, mom, yes I'm pregnant.
Speaker 5 (35:25):
Quick tell dad, ring dad. And I just wanted to share.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
The news because everyone had been on the journey with us,
and like, I was just so excited. And again, you're
still waiting with baited breath everyone that's going through the
fertility trenches, whether that's you know, secondary in fertility, like
you realize sometimes that there's never a time you can
really exhale. But no, I was like, Okay, we've got
(35:50):
to this part, like the eggs where it needs to
be it's implanted. The blood test is saying I'm pregnant,
I'm pregnant. Okay, I'm treating myself as pregnant. So I
think I was like, yeah, they say like five weeks
pregnant or something.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
And then what was the pregnancy like then, like you've
you know, you're letting yourself kind of enjoy that moment
of being pregnant. But I'm imagining like that in my
experience with this pregnancy that I have. Now, after my
first loss, I'd take nothing for granted, so one hundred percent.
Speaker 5 (36:18):
So I mean I was being watched like a hawk.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
I was really lucky that I had a team in
Coughs and a team in Sydney, and once I got
to twelve weeks, I basically saw the team in Sydney
once a month, but then the alternate week I would
see my Coughs team. So I had a gynecologist and
a midwife in Coughs as well, and a midwife that
ended up looking after me for Henry's so my second pregnancy,
(36:42):
Henry was one of the midwives that looked after me
with Violet. So that was really like felt full circle
and just really nice that she knew my family and
my husband spent a lot of time with her when
I was in ICU and stuff, so he really loved
her as well. Shout out to Jen if you're listening.
She was amazing. So my husband was like, oh, I
(37:02):
just have so much confidence knowing that Jen is there
as well.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
But yeah, it's just annuity, Okay, someone that knows your
whole story and yeah, joining halfway through, yeah.
Speaker 5 (37:13):
Yeah, and just again with your second, like you are
really busy because you've got a first.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
You know, some people are still working. I was still
working three days a week and trying to travel to Sydney,
and I was having blood tests as well for my
levels for my ANI rejection drugs, like this is just
all part and parcel of the clinical trial. So I
was definitely trying to see the glimmers, like trying to
find the silver linings to things like trying to and
(37:39):
definitely not taking any week. For granted, I was taking
like with Violet, I think I took like a few
bump photos, but I you know, I definitely wasn't taking
them every week. With Henry, I was taking them every
single week. I was sending a picture to my mom
being like I'm thirteen weeks, I'm fourteen weeks, I'm you know,
and I was had my hand on my tummy like
I don't know, I just didn't take it, yeah, yeah,
(38:02):
And just wanting my daughter to be a part of
that journey as well and getting her included. And my
pregnancy was really similar to that of violets. I had
a little bit of morning sickness in the beginning. It
was like halfway I think I was like twenty weeks
and I stopped performiting. But no, it was really similar.
I felt big and huge and pregnant.
Speaker 4 (38:22):
How old. Was Violet through this?
Speaker 5 (38:25):
She was too.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
Okay, okay, And how does she sort of go with like,
you know, obviously you were sort of traveling a lot
and with the surgeries and that sort of thing. I mean,
I guess she just didn't know any better, but like,
how did you explain different things to a two year old?
Speaker 2 (38:44):
So basically, just as much as age appropriate as we could. Yeah,
we explained, like nanny gave mummy something because mummy couldn't
have a baby, so you need to be careful of
mummy's tummy. Like, and I've got a big scar, like
I said, so from my bellydding down to my and
we together.
Speaker 5 (39:00):
So she's like, that's where the baby would come out
of your head.
Speaker 2 (39:05):
So and she points to the other scar and she's
like that's where I came on at all, you know.
So and basically she would come to my bod test appointments.
We involved her a lot, so she was really used
to like, yeah, mummy needs to go to the doctor.
The doctor looks at mummy's belly, and my midwife would
come to my home so she would use the doppler
and let Violet hold the doppler and be like that's
(39:25):
your brother's like your baby's heartbeat, and and Violet's great now.
She always says like, oh, I want to be a doctor,
and she has a little stethoscope and she's the only
thing that I will say that really took a toll
was because I was on the anti rejection drugs. I
was really immunosuppressed, so I was very susceptible at picking
up all of Violet's daycare germs that she was bringing home.
(39:47):
And there were a couple of times that I got
really on well, very quickly, and that's just what happens
when you're immunosuppressed. And I was rushed to hospital. So
there was a few times that if Violet didn't understand
why Mummy just you'd wake up in the morning and
Mummy wasn't there because I'd been rushed to hospital. Especially
also those Sydney days that I would be going to
my appointments, I often would fly really early in the morning,
(40:09):
like six point thirty, and then I wouldn't get back
until eight o'clock that night, and so Violet would already
be in bed and she didn't enjoy those days just
because Mummy was obviously away, Like the whole day she
was yeah, and she but the next day she'd understand.
I'd be like, oh, Mummy went to see the doctor,
and I would be trying to take a few photos
of the airport and bring her home a little surprise
every now and then, And even the surprises like didn't
(40:31):
even have to be anything special, Like sometimes I'd just
give her my plane ticket and be like this was
Mummy's plane ticket, Like yeah, yeah, so just yeah, trying
to explain and the best you can.
Speaker 3 (40:46):
All of these specialists and all of these flights and
everything that all adds up. Sorry to talk about money,
but like anyone playing along at home is going to
be like this sounds like a very expensive process. So
is anything covered by private health? Is much covered by
Medicare Like.
Speaker 5 (41:04):
No to private health.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Sorry, I do have hospital cover, so a tiny little bit,
but basically the actual surgery because it was part of
the clinical trial, I wasn't builed for. Okay, medications I cover,
so all the IVF stuff or the anti rejection stuff.
Most of my appointments in coughs because I was high risk,
were built with Medicare, like the ultrasounds and things like that.
(41:28):
There's also a really wonderful charity that works alongside the
Royal Women's that could help me out sometimes when I
needed help. So look, it's a little bit of everything.
Speaker 5 (41:39):
Yeah. Also, yeah it does add up.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
But also doing any sort of fertility treatment is really expensive,
so you sort of expect it, and I think when
it's for another baby, you just I don't want to say,
turn a blind eye, but you're like, it's worth it.
Speaker 5 (42:00):
It is what it is.
Speaker 3 (42:01):
And yeah, it's not money that you're going to regret spending,
is it correct?
Speaker 2 (42:05):
Yeah, And I mean touch wood again, I was having
very good outcomes, so yeah, that's very different to someone.
Speaker 4 (42:13):
That's you know, how defeating it would be when something is.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
Five embryo transfers, ten embryo transfers, like I was very,
very very lucky.
Speaker 3 (42:20):
Yeah, and okay, so can we move on to Henry's birth.
I want to hear about it, like but and also
were you terrified because after Violet's birth you must have
did you have to do like a lot of work
preparing yourself mentally?
Speaker 2 (42:35):
Yes, For a period of time whilst I was pregnant,
I just was like too high basket, let's not think
about it. But then it got to the point where Obviously,
my specialists in Sydney, they both Doctor Shanned and Doctor Lines,
were ready to talk about it and like, but that
was really good for me.
Speaker 5 (42:50):
I like information. I like being told.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
I think that's also another reason I like to share
my story about violence birth and the hysterectomy is because
leading up to violence Bath, I felt like I had
done so much preparation. I'd done hypno birthing. I had
bought all the things, drank all the stuff done, all
the walking done, all the stretching, like listen to all
the podcasts in the world. I thought I knew everything
(43:13):
that could happen. And then to wake up and have
had a hysterect to me, I was like, no one
told me about that.
Speaker 4 (43:18):
Yeah, I didn't hear that one.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
And obviously for some people they prefer less information, but yeah,
for me, definitely, I like to be really informed. So
when my team started talking to me about what the
birth would be like, it was a plants arian. It
has to be a plants arian at thirty seven weeks,
just so not to put pressure on the uterus, because
obviously we're trying to avoid uterine rupture and that can
(43:43):
happen after transplants and they basically are like, you are
not going past thirty seven weeks, but also people do
go early. So from thirty four weeks I moved from
my home to Sydney so I could be really close
to the hospital.
Speaker 5 (43:57):
I was walking distance. Everyone was going over me with
a fine tooth comb.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
So being a part of the clinical trial, I also
had access to appointments to look after my mental health
as well, and they were checking in and just everyone
really understood where I was coming from that I'd had
a hysterectomy. And I also requested for my mum to
be in there for the birth. So not only did
I have my husband there holding my hand during Henry's birth,
(44:22):
but Mum was gowned up and in the anesthetic bay,
and then once Henry was brought up and out of
the curtain that he was given to the specialist pediatricians
and went with my husband, But my mum got to
come over and hold my hand while they was selling
me up, and that was the bit I was really
really scared about anyway, So it was really nice having
(44:42):
I mean I knew everyone in that room, but it
was really nice having my mom there to hold my hand.
Speaker 3 (44:47):
Yeah, it's so incredible and like you can tell him
you and him grew in the same womb.
Speaker 5 (44:54):
Yeah, Me, my brother and Henry all grew in the
same womb.
Speaker 4 (44:57):
That's so cool.
Speaker 2 (44:59):
And it was just a beautiful experience. Like honestly, my
mum and my husband and I walked to the hospital
the morning of my plan ses arian, I wasn't allowed
to coffee, but they were. I was a bit I
wasn't very happy about that because I loved my first
coffee of the morning.
Speaker 5 (45:13):
But yeah, it was just so lovely, Like I walked
in and everyone was so excited because they knew we
were meeting my baby.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
And I don't know if that's just the difference between
an emergencies is arian.
Speaker 3 (45:25):
Everyone I know that's had an elective the second time
around has been like, why was it such a nice experience?
Speaker 5 (45:31):
Like so it was.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
It went really really well. I barely lost any well
I had. I lost three or four leaders to me,
I felt great, Like they was saying, you know, how
are you feeling? You know, And I had no symptoms
from the blood loss, but.
Speaker 3 (45:45):
That's still a lot of blood to lose, Like I know,
but I know it's not eleven.
Speaker 4 (45:51):
But like did they say, why you bleed so much?
Speaker 2 (45:54):
Like again, because they were checking everything out. Okay, so
they opened me up and down because they wanted to
and to just close all those layers. And because yeah
it was instead of a cross ways instead of your
bikini line. They did that one the same way they
did the uterus transplant, so that one was up and down.
Speaker 3 (46:14):
So that was that's a big area to be awake
for as well, though like yeah, it's.
Speaker 5 (46:19):
It's a lot of rummaging. But again in comparison, it
was it's so gross. I was really.
Speaker 2 (46:24):
Lucky because Yanna took my phone and she filmed him
coming out. I've got this beautiful video of him like
coming out of my tummy. I made the comment that
I didn't get to see my placenta with Violet. She
made it a thing of like taking a photo of
Henry's placenta, And yeah, I was just so lucky, Like
not only did I have my husband and my my mom,
(46:48):
but I had like my amazing team with me and
Yana taking photos. And then when I went into recovery,
like I got to see my dad there and then
like it was just straight away.
Speaker 5 (46:58):
Soon as we got into recovery.
Speaker 2 (47:01):
Mum said to me that went really really well, and
I said, yeah, yeah, it did. And she said, you
want to have another baby, don't you.
Speaker 4 (47:07):
Oh.
Speaker 5 (47:07):
I was like, yes, yes, I do.
Speaker 1 (47:09):
It chills because that was going to be my next question.
It's like, how could you not want to do it
all over again when it was such a beautiful experience.
Speaker 2 (47:18):
Well, I actually am three months post second history to me,
So when you're part of the clinical trial, they say
to you two live birds or five years. That's the
limit on how long you can have the uterus, right,
because obviously they want to get you off the anti
rejection drug, so I can't just keep the uterus like
(47:41):
I would have loved to have just kept it.
Speaker 5 (47:42):
But those anti rejection drugs suck, so obviously I wanted
to get off those.
Speaker 2 (47:47):
But basically part of that planning for the land cesarian
of Henry, they said, do you want to have a hysterectomy?
Speaker 5 (47:54):
At that stage, you'll stay awake, we'll do the cesarean.
Speaker 2 (47:57):
Basically Henry will be born and then we would knock
you out and do the hysterectomy. But I was still
very unsure because I've already got another child.
Speaker 5 (48:07):
As well.
Speaker 2 (48:07):
If you had asked Kirsty whilst I was pregnant with
Violet how many kids I wanted, I always said three.
My husband's got a brother and a sister. It's just
my brother and I and were thick as thieves. But
I always begged my mum for a sister. And I
don't know, I just always grew up thinking I would
have three kids. So, you know, before the uterus transplant,
(48:30):
I was like, if I get the chance, I will
have two more children, and Violet will have two more siblings.
But once going through that and realizing how lucky we
were and how touch would we didn't really have any hiccups.
Like I was very very lucky, like Henry was very healthy.
I did get gestational diabetes, but that was really controlled
(48:51):
with insulin with the needle, So I don't know, I
just felt like I had had such a good experience anyway,
So basically they said, don't make any decisions, we'll just
have a chat about this in six months time. And
then when that came up, by that stage, so three
months postpardon, I started bleeding and then it just never stopped.
(49:12):
I was in organ rejection. So they were doing biopsies
of my uterus, and basically they said, nope, you'reine rejection.
So we think maybe some of the amniotic fluid from
Henry got into my uterus and then it started attacking
my uterus. Said hey, this isn't the right thing. And
so my body started to attack the uterus and I
(49:33):
had some treatment to treat the rejection, but it was
making me really, really sick, and I was having to
be in hospital, away from my baby and from Violet.
And we ended up as a family making decision that
you know, we had two beautiful, healthy children, and you know,
touch Wood, I hadn't had too many hiccups and too
(49:53):
many complications, and that I was ready to have that
second hysterectomy.
Speaker 3 (49:59):
So months post his diectomy. Now, yeah, and how are
you feeling great?
Speaker 4 (50:05):
I feel, my God that I'm so good.
Speaker 5 (50:08):
I'm weaning off mine.
Speaker 4 (50:09):
You've got all the drugs out of your system.
Speaker 2 (50:12):
Not quite, so I'm still weaning. You've got to do
that slowly because obviously I had so many my Siah,
I'm weaning off the steroids really slowly. But Touchwood, in
the new year, I will be drug free. I will
be anti rejection, drug free.
Speaker 3 (50:28):
That's incredible, and you've got your two beautiful babies and
you've made history.
Speaker 2 (50:33):
Yeah, and hopefully so as far as I know, there's
been three other uterus transplants. Now I only know the
lady that went second. So the lady that went second,
she has a baby girl named Rose. So there's been
one baby boy and one baby girl born in Australia
from uterus transplant.
Speaker 1 (50:51):
It's really cool and I'm just isn't science amazing? It's amazing.
Speaker 5 (50:55):
And women's bodies of.
Speaker 1 (50:57):
Course, I mean, yeah, it goes without saying powerhouse, it does.
Speaker 5 (51:01):
Here we are.
Speaker 1 (51:02):
But I just love that perspective that you had and
that you could say goodbye to that second uterus and
just be like, no, we've done our dash. This is
what we need, like our families complete.
Speaker 2 (51:13):
Yeah, and look, I don't know if I can definitely
definitely say yes, our family is complete, but this part
of our our family making journey, this part is closed.
Speaker 5 (51:23):
My body. I've been through a lot and I've had enough.
Speaker 2 (51:27):
You know, in the future, you know, we may look
at something else, but at the moment, we are content.
And I am just so grateful for the opportunity from
the Royal Women's and from all the people that all
the doctors and nurses that looked after us and looked
after my mum and looked after Henry. I'm just really
looking forward to touchwood. Hopefully are really cruisy twenty twenty five,
(51:49):
not too many hospital visits, not too many doctors' visits,
you know, just really getting to enjoy my children.
Speaker 1 (51:55):
Yeah, definitely. It's been a long journey because you've had
to do it pretty quickly, one after the other, and
it hasn't been easy. It's kind of nice just to enjoy, like.
Speaker 2 (52:04):
Yeah, and I hate that word. I hate the word journey,
but it has felt like a journey. And you know,
there's been so many milestones. But as a parent, you
guys probably say the same thing. You're like, next week
it'll get better. Yes, we could all get better, but
it's like, hopefully next year will be our year and
we can just like slow down.
Speaker 1 (52:21):
We've got to have the belief at the beginning of
the year that it's going to be get yeah, aimheigh,
Yeah exactly. And so what's it like, I mean, he's
just turned one, Like looking at him, seeing him reaches milestones,
just seeing him as a little person, like does it
just amaze.
Speaker 5 (52:37):
You that definitely.
Speaker 2 (52:38):
And he's just so different to my daughter. So he's
got so many teeth, he's got like eight teeth. He's walking.
He started taking steps like two weeks ago and then
just started basically walking around the house and I was like,
oh my goodness. And then so, yeah, he's just I
used to think, oh, you raise them in the same house,
they'll be similar. But my children are chalk and Cheese
(53:00):
is a soft and my son is just a wild animal.
I love that, which I love, I love, but I
just didn't like as a baby.
Speaker 5 (53:11):
He was a very easy baby. So I kept saying
to everyone, Oh, he's going to be like my husband.
Speaker 2 (53:15):
My husband's a surfar he's very easy going. My husband's
very you know, very cruisy. Henry is going to be
just like his dad. And then my daughter's always like.
Speaker 5 (53:24):
Mom, he's so rough. He's so rough with me.
Speaker 2 (53:27):
And I'm like, Violet, just you put your hand out
and you say no, Hongry, I don't like it, yes,
gentle hands. But yeah, he's he's just such a boy.
Speaker 1 (53:36):
I feel like he had to have that kind of
demeanor because he just really really wanted.
Speaker 4 (53:41):
To be here.
Speaker 1 (53:42):
You know he really wanted to be here, so he's
living life to the fullest. He's rough and humble. I
love it. Final question, what's surprised you the most? What
did you learn about yourself?
Speaker 2 (53:52):
I think there's there's been lots of challenges along the way,
but I'm just really, really, really proud of myself that
I've been able to get up every day and be grateful.
Speaker 5 (54:04):
And it's not easy.
Speaker 2 (54:06):
The drugs make you feel crap, and when you've got
a kid and you're pregnant, and because I was obviously
well key, you would totally understand, but yeah, still on
a pregnancy, but any pregnancy, some people look get nice
and easy and you know, but it's hard. So I'm
just really proud that I tried to see the positive
and I just kept turning up and doing what I
(54:28):
could do.
Speaker 5 (54:29):
And you know, I had to ask for help.
Speaker 2 (54:32):
Like obviously to get to this stage, I did have
to ask my mum for her uterus, so you know,
I did have to ask for things. So I think
I'm just getting to the point where I'm getting more
comfortable within asking for what I need and for asking
for help and then also accepting that help because yeah,
it's really hard sometimes as a mum when you just
want to do and be everywhere all the time. To
(54:54):
then accept that help as well.
Speaker 1 (54:57):
It feels like that's almost your full circle kind of lesson,
because remember when you were talking in the hospital about
you were kind of fawning and trying to keep it
all together, and you know, you were scared to kind
of let anyone know that you were struggling to now
like being like, I'm actually so proud of myself for
asking for and accepting the help.
Speaker 5 (55:17):
Yes, because yeah, a problem shared is definitely a problem halved.
And I think you actually key you were only talking
about this the other day. You were saying, once you
started talking about how you were feeling, you felt a
little better.
Speaker 1 (55:29):
The weight lifts.
Speaker 4 (55:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (55:30):
Yeah, I feel like it's only you. You feel supported,
it doesn't feel as isolating. Yeah, definitely. Thanks obviously, Well
was women here talking to white so wise? Well, thank
you so much. That was just the most interesting, beautiful, entertaining,
joyful conversation I think I've had in a long time.
(55:52):
And I just thank you so a lot.
Speaker 5 (55:53):
But the way it is a lot of infertility, Thank you,
thank you.
Speaker 3 (55:56):
I feel like a little bit flustered because I'm like,
where is the presence of someone that has changed history?
Speaker 5 (56:02):
Oh? Remember I was just the patient, but yes.
Speaker 3 (56:07):
No, no, your body was used and you are a
huge part of that.
Speaker 2 (56:11):
I'm internally grateful for doctor Matt Branstrom, the Royal Women's
the clinical trial, because yeah, I would never have been
able to carry another child, and I'm so grateful that
I did get to have that opportunity.
Speaker 3 (56:25):
I hope everyone enjoyed listening to that chat as much
as we enjoyed having it. She is just incredible and
she's also just like a really good speaker.
Speaker 1 (56:35):
She's very eloquent, such a good storyteller. I was on
the edge of my seat the whole time during that nur. Yes,
it was really good and.
Speaker 4 (56:41):
She knew all the good we ask.
Speaker 1 (56:45):
Yeah exactly. So thank you Kirsty so much for sharing
your story.
Speaker 4 (56:48):
And thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 3 (56:50):
Make sure you share the pod on your socials, spread
this incredible story far and wide, and please make sure
you rate and review us. You can find us on
Instagram at Key Reese and at Kelly Underscore McCarron, and
at essi Dot Pod.
Speaker 1 (57:05):
This episode was produced by us Key and kel with
audio production by our lovely producer Madeline Joanna Bye Bye
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