British lesbian couple become the first parents to have a baby carried in both of their wombs

A British lesbian couple have become the first in the country to carry a baby in both of their wombs in a pioneering procedure known as ″shared motherhood″. 

Jasmine Francis-Smith, 28, from Northamptonshire, gave birth to Otis two months ago at a hospital in Essex, using an egg that was first incubated by her wife, Donna, the Daily Mail reports.

Previously, the procedure could only be achieved through artificial incubation of the egg before the transfer of the embryo to the womb.

But Jasmine and Donna used a new procedure which involves fertilising the egg in a lab, incubating it for a day in one their wombs, then transferring it to the other's womb for the rest of the pregnancy and birth. 

Donna incubated the embryo for the first 18 hours following fertilisation in the 'shared motherhood' procedure, before it was transferred to Jasmine. 

The couple used donor sperm for the pregnancy, but it's unknown whether they knew the donor. 

The procedure is done by placing the eggs inside the miniature capsule and inserting that into Donna's womb.

This allows for interaction between the embryo and the inside of the womb in the first mother before it's transferred to the second mother.

One benefit is that fertilisation takes place in a living environment rather than in a lab, which carries risks of its own.

It was then removed and placed inside Jasmine, where it remained for the duration of the pregnancy.

A spokesman for the London Women's clinic, which carried out the procedure, said that this not only allows both partners a 'practical and emotional stake in the pregnancy, but also provides the embryo with important nutrients and other components in a natural, maternal environment'.