Woman to deliver her own baby best friend giving birth to
Georgia Barrington, 28, was diagnosed with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome aged 15 — meaning she was born without a uterus and unable to ever carry a baby.
Ms Barrington, who is from Kent, England, said despite this knowledge it had always been a dream of hers to become a mother.
'It felt like the end of the world at the time,' she said when she discovered her diagnosis.
'I thought, 'What am I going to do?' That's all I wanted.'
Her childhood best friend, Daisy Hope, 29, joked as a teenager that she would carry her baby and the offer always stuck.
Ms Hope told SWNS: 'Naively as a teen you say 'I'll carry for you'. I was always meant to do it.
'At 16 I genuinely did mean it.'
Ms Hope welcomed her own daughter Emilia, now three, and her best friend Ms Barrington delivered the child. It was then she realised how 'incredible' it was to be a mum — and vowed to keep the promise she made when she was 16.
Ms Barrington said: 'I delivered her daughter. She told me 'you have to experience this'.'
Medics implanted embryos — with Ms Barrington's extracted eggs fertilised by her partner, Lloyd Williams' sperm — in Ms Hope and they were all delighted to find out she was pregnant on the second try in February 2025.
Now 23 weeks along, Ms Barrington has been able to share every step of the journey with Ms Hope and will incredibly get to deliver her own baby in October 2025.
Ms Barrington initially started looking into surrogacy and researching how to get the ball rolling – and was luckily able to get individual funding via the NHS to cover £5,000 (AU $10,500) for her egg collection and creation of embryos.
She said: 'It felt a bit more affordable.'
Ms Barrington and Mr Williams, a welder, have still had to spend £15,000 (AU $31,496) on the IVF and Ms Barrington's egg collection in October 2023.
They then had to spend the next year going through counselling and health checks before the first egg transfer in October 2024.
Ms Barrington had always wanted the moment of revealing to her partner and family she was pregnant so the best friends went to the appointment in secret.
After 14 days, Ms Hope discovered she was pregnant and Ms Barrington told her family.
But at their seven-week scan they were told the baby wasn't progressing normally and at nine weeks Ms Hope had a miscarriage. She went for her second transfer on January 31, 2025.
Ms Barrington said: 'We were on FaceTime on day five and Emilia pulled out a box of pregnancy tests. We got carried away and she did one and we saw a faint positive line.
'Each day the lines got darker.'
The women were able to have an early scan at six weeks, and Ms Barrington saw a faint heartbeat. She finally felt like her dream may be close to coming true.
Ms Hope's first trimester hasn't been smooth sailing and she has had episodes of bleeding – which has been worrying for them all.
Ms Barrington said: 'Being a midwife I know too much – I see more of the unfortunate cases than the normal person.
'I've been extremely anxious.'
But now at 23 weeks along the pals are feeling excited and more relaxed, with Ms Hope messaging her friend with every single symptom. She even bought bond touch bracelets so Ms Barrington could know as well.
The baby is due in October, and Ms Barrington described the opportunity to deliver her own child as 'surreal'.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
8 hours ago
- ABC News
Senior staff at English hospital where Lucy Letby worked arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter
Three senior managers at the hospital where former nurse Lucy Letby murdered babies have been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter. Letby, 35, is serving life in jail after being found guilty of murdering seven newborns and attempting to murder eight more between June 2015 and June 2016 while working in the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital in northern England. The nurse has maintained her innocence throughout but has been refused permission to appeal against her convictions. She has been told she will never be released. Following the trial, British police began to investigate possible corporate manslaughter offences at the hospital, an inquiry that was later widened to consider if individuals might be guilty of gross negligence manslaughter. Detective Superintendent Paul Hughes, who is leading the investigation, said three unnamed members of the hospital's senior leadership team were arrested on Monday, local time. They have since been released on police bail pending further inquires. "Both the corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter elements of the investigation are continuing and there are no set timescales for these," Mr Hughes said in a statement. He added that the police investigation into whether Letby had committed more crimes at the hospital and at another unit where she had previously worked was ongoing. Cheshire Police said the case did not have any impact on Letby's 2023 convictions for murder and attempted murder. Letby, who testified that she never harmed a child, has continued to proclaim her innocence, and support for her has grown as legal and scientific experts have questioned the circumstantial and statistical evidence used at her trial. A panel of international medical experts disputed the evidence against her and her lawyer said she was wrongly convicted. A judge who oversaw a public inquiry seeking accountability of staff and management at the hospital was expected to publish her findings later this year. Justice Kathryn Thirlwall said at the outset of the inquiry that she would not review Letby's conviction, but would take a deeper look into how failures led to babies being repeatedly harmed at the hospital. As that inquiry was underway earlier this year, an independent panel of more than a dozen medical experts issued a report that found no sign of a crime and concluded natural causes or bad medical care led to the demise of each of the newborns. "In summary, then, ladies and gentlemen, we did not find any murders," Dr Shoo Lee, a retired neonatologist from Canada, said at a London news conference in February. Letby's lawyers and three former executives at the hospital unsuccessfully petitioned Judge Thirlwall to halt the public inquiry after the medical panel released its findings. Letby, who lost two bids to appeal her convictions, now has her case before the Criminal Case Review Commission, which reviews possible miscarriages of justice, which could lead to another shot at an appeal. The Crown Prosecution Service has said two juries have convicted Letby and three appellate judges have rejected her arguments that the prosecution expert evidence is flawed. Reuters/AP
ABC News
12 hours ago
- ABC News
Three bosses at UK hospital where Lucy Letby worked arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter
Three senior managers from the hospital where former nurse Lucy Letby was convicted of murdering babies worked, have been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter, British police said. Letby, 35, is serving life in jail after being found guilty of murdering seven newborns and attempting to murder eight more between June 2015 and June 2016 while working in the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital in northern England. The nurse has maintained her innocence throughout but has been refused permission to appeal against her convictions. She has been told she will never be released. Following the trial, police began to investigate possible corporate manslaughter offences at the hospital, an inquiry that was later widened to consider if individuals might be guilty of gross negligence manslaughter. Detective Superintendent Paul Hughes, who is leading the investigation, said three unnamed members of the hospital's senior leadership team had been arrested on Monday local time. They have subsequently been released on police bail pending further inquires. "Both the corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter elements of the investigation are continuing and there are no set timescales for these," Mr Hughes said in a statement. He added that the police investigation into whether Letby had committed more crimes at the hospital and at another unit where she had previously worked was ongoing. Cheshire Police said the case does not have any impact on Letby's 2023 convictions for murder and attempted murder. Letby, who testified that she never harmed a child, has continued to proclaim her innocence and support for her has grown as legal and scientific experts have questioned the circumstantial and statistical evidence used at her trial. A panel of international medical experts disputed the evidence against her and her lawyer said she was wrongly convicted. A judge who oversaw a public inquiry seeking accountability of staff and management at the hospital is expected to publish her findings this fall. Justice Kathryn Thirlwall said at the outset of the inquiry that she would not review Letby's conviction, but take a deeper look into how failures led babies to repeatedly be harmed at the hospital. As that inquiry was underway earlier this year, an independent panel of more than a dozen medical experts issued a report that found no sign of a crime and concluded natural causes or bad medical care led to the demise of each of the newborns. "In summary, then, ladies and gentlemen, we did not find any murders," Dr Shoo Lee, a retired neonatologist from Canada, said at a London news conference in February. Letby's lawyers and three former executives at the hospital unsuccessfully petitioned Judge Thirlwall to halt the public inquiry after the medical panel released its findings. Letby, who lost two bids to appeal her convictions, now has her case before the Criminal Case Review Commission, which reviews possible miscarriages of justice and could lead to one another shot at an appeal. The Crown Prosecution Service has said two juries convicted Letby and three appellate judges had rejected her arguments that the prosecution expert evidence was flawed. Reuters/AP
News.com.au
2 days ago
- News.com.au
Woman to deliver her own baby best friend giving birth to
A young midwife who was born without a womb will get to deliver her own baby – after her best friend offered to be her surrogate. Georgia Barrington, 28, was diagnosed with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome aged 15 — meaning she was born without a uterus and unable to ever carry a baby. Ms Barrington, who is from Kent, England, said despite this knowledge it had always been a dream of hers to become a mother. 'It felt like the end of the world at the time,' she said when she discovered her diagnosis. 'I thought, 'What am I going to do?' That's all I wanted.' Her childhood best friend, Daisy Hope, 29, joked as a teenager that she would carry her baby and the offer always stuck. Ms Hope told SWNS: 'Naively as a teen you say 'I'll carry for you'. I was always meant to do it. 'At 16 I genuinely did mean it.' Ms Hope welcomed her own daughter Emilia, now three, and her best friend Ms Barrington delivered the child. It was then she realised how 'incredible' it was to be a mum — and vowed to keep the promise she made when she was 16. Ms Barrington said: 'I delivered her daughter. She told me 'you have to experience this'.' Medics implanted embryos — with Ms Barrington's extracted eggs fertilised by her partner, Lloyd Williams' sperm — in Ms Hope and they were all delighted to find out she was pregnant on the second try in February 2025. Now 23 weeks along, Ms Barrington has been able to share every step of the journey with Ms Hope and will incredibly get to deliver her own baby in October 2025. Ms Barrington initially started looking into surrogacy and researching how to get the ball rolling – and was luckily able to get individual funding via the NHS to cover £5,000 (AU $10,500) for her egg collection and creation of embryos. She said: 'It felt a bit more affordable.' Ms Barrington and Mr Williams, a welder, have still had to spend £15,000 (AU $31,496) on the IVF and Ms Barrington's egg collection in October 2023. They then had to spend the next year going through counselling and health checks before the first egg transfer in October 2024. Ms Barrington had always wanted the moment of revealing to her partner and family she was pregnant so the best friends went to the appointment in secret. After 14 days, Ms Hope discovered she was pregnant and Ms Barrington told her family. But at their seven-week scan they were told the baby wasn't progressing normally and at nine weeks Ms Hope had a miscarriage. She went for her second transfer on January 31, 2025. Ms Barrington said: 'We were on FaceTime on day five and Emilia pulled out a box of pregnancy tests. We got carried away and she did one and we saw a faint positive line. 'Each day the lines got darker.' The women were able to have an early scan at six weeks, and Ms Barrington saw a faint heartbeat. She finally felt like her dream may be close to coming true. Ms Hope's first trimester hasn't been smooth sailing and she has had episodes of bleeding – which has been worrying for them all. Ms Barrington said: 'Being a midwife I know too much – I see more of the unfortunate cases than the normal person. 'I've been extremely anxious.' But now at 23 weeks along the pals are feeling excited and more relaxed, with Ms Hope messaging her friend with every single symptom. She even bought bond touch bracelets so Ms Barrington could know as well. The baby is due in October, and Ms Barrington described the opportunity to deliver her own child as 'surreal'.
