'MY SON GREW IN MY MUM'S UTERUS'

Thanks to a medical miracle and her selfless mother, Kirsty was finally able to add to her family

- Natalee Fuhrmann

Kirsty Bryant gazes down at the cherub faced baby cradled in her arms, a surge of overwhelming love coursing through her.

"Henry is perfect," she whispers softly, her heart swelling with gratitude for the miracle that brought him into her life.

Born on 15 December, Henry is the embodiment of Kirsty's deepest desires and dreams.

His arrival marked a milestone, not just for Kirsty and her husband Nick, 32, but for medical science - he is Australia's first baby born to a mother with a donated uterus.

"It's the best thing ever that I now carry the womb that I grew in," Kirsty, 31, tells Woman's Day of the uterus donated by her mother Michelle Hayton, 55, just 11 months before she gave birth.

"On the morning of the transplant surgery, I said, "Thank you so much, Mum."" The operation was complex and lasted a marathon 16 hours, with mother and daughter in parallel theatres.

"I don't think I'll ever be able to fully repay her, but two nights before Henry was born, Nick and I told her that we were naming our baby Henry Nicholas Michelle Bryant," says Kirsty, who is from Coffs Harbour, New South Wales.