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LONDON - Louise Brown, the world's first test-tube baby, has given birth to a child of her own. Reports suggest it is a boy, conceived naturally and without IVF.
The 28-year-old, whose pioneering conception by in-vitro fertilisation made her famous, dislikes being in the public eye. The news of her pregnancy emerged only when she was photographed carrying a car baby seat outside her home in Bristol.
"She and Wesley are over the moon," a friend reportedly said. "It's what they've always wanted."
Louise Brown met Wesley Mullinder when he was working as a doorman in a nightclub. They married in 2004. "We are so excited about becoming parents," said Mr Mullinder, 37, when his wife first became pregnant. "Louise will make a fantastic mother."
Louise's own birth, by Caesarean section in Oldham, Lancashire, caused a media sensation in July 1978. Fertility specialists Patrick Steptoe and Bob Edwards became the first to successfully carry out IVF by extracting an egg, impregnating it with sperm and planting the resulting embryo back into the mother.
"I don't feel any more special than anyone else," Brown said three years ago at an event celebrating her 25th birthday.
"I just get on with my life - normal."
- INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
