When I Was Young

PREGNANCY PROBLEMS

Pregnant woman to return newborn to biological parents

Sylvania (Ohio) - A pregnant American woman, Ms Carolyn Savage, has decided to give up her baby after an IVF blunder meant she was mistakenly implanted with another couple's embryo.

The 40-year-old, who is 35 weeks pregnant, and her husband Sean, will have to give up the baby boy to his biological parents when he is born in about a fortnight.

The religious couple have decided not to terminate the pregnancy but return the baby boy to his parents, who have not been named.

The mother of three, from Sylvania, Ohio, described her anguish after being told the baby she was carrying was not actually hers.

"The hardest part is going to be the delivery," Mrs Savage told NBC's Today programme.

"We moved from a position of shock to a realisation that this was actually going to happen. It has just been difficult, but we feel we made the right decision on how to handle it," she said.

The couple has two sons, aged 15 and 12, and an 18-month-old daughter, who was also conceived through IVF.

Mrs Savage learned she was pregnant with a boy in February after deciding to have another child using the last of her frozen embryos.

She had been having trouble getting pregnant and she was told by doctors this was the last child she could have.

The boy's biological parents have expressed their gratitude to the couple. Mrs Savage said: "We will wonder about this child every day of our lives."

"We have hopes for him, but they're his parents and we'll defer to their judgment on when and if they tell him what happened, and any contact that's afforded us."

The couple's lawyers were working to ensure that the fertility clinic that made the mistake "will accept full responsibility for the consequences of their misconduct". THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

From TODAY, World – Wednesday, 23-Sep-2009