通过子宫移植创造出来的小生命(2)

When Jennifer began dating Drew in 2007, while she was a student at Philadelphia's Drexel University, she told him about her MRKH at the outset.

"She was open about it from the beginning," says Drew, who was attending nearby Temple University. As they fell in love, they talked about how much they both wanted a family.

"We both knew we'd be parent someday; we just didn't know how,"says Drew. They married in 2014 and not long after began IVF procedures

(some women with MRKH have functioning ovaries that produce eggs) in the hopes of finding a surrogate. All the while, says Drew, who's 32,

they were fielding "awkward, painful" questions from well-intentioned friends and family about when they were planning to have kids. "How do you even talk about it?" he adds. "So you just lie and suffer in silence."

By December 2017 Jennifer had spent years learning everything she could about MRKH and joining various support groups for women with the disorder.

It was through one such group on Facebook that she learned that Baylor University Medical Center, the Cleveland Clinic and Penn Medicine hospital were studying the possibility of uterus transplants-

and that Penn Medicine was looking for candidates. "I think I should apply," she told Drew.

Jennifer was selected from among 1,500 applicants, and within days she began meeting with doctors at Penn Medicine. "Because this is a research trial, there are a lot of unknowns," says Dr. O'Neill,

who studied Jennifer's ultrasounds and X-rays to ensure that her anatomy was the right fit for the procedure. Doctors also evaluated Jennifer's medical history,