Qatari is first 5-organ transplant patient to have baby

A Qatari woman who was given a new liver, pancreas, stomach and small and large intestine in 2007 has had a healthy baby girl, believed to be the first known case of a five-organ transplant patient giving birth.

Fatema Al Ansari said she was overjoyed after giving birth by caesarean section at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, where she had transplant surgery in 2007.

"It's a hard feeling to express," the mother said in comments published by Associated Press. Holding her daughter Alkadi Alhayal, she added: "It's the best feeling in the world."

Al Ansari, who lives in Qatar and plans to return home in coming weeks, was in the Gulf state seven years ago when she was diagnosed with a blood clot in a major vein to the intestine - requiring transplant surgery, AP reported.

Just over 600 five-organ transplants have been recorded as of 2011, according to the latest figures available from the Intestinal Transplant Association.

Dr Shalih Y Yasin, the woman's obstetrician, said there have been some cases in Europe of births by transplant patients who had two organs but not five.

"We have searched all medical literature all over the world for any pregnancy that had five multi-transplants and this is the first case to our knowledge," said the doctor with the University of Miami Health System.

Yasin said an adult with five transplanted organs who is sufficiently healthy to even consider having a child "is a miracle by itself".

Al Ansari was forced to terminate a previous pregnancy early on after her diagnosis, which made her think she would never be able to get pregnant.