The first American IVF baby has shared a question she hears all the time, while also expressing gratitude for the science behind the procedure.
Elizabeth Carr, who is recognized as the first IVF baby born in the United States, has appeared in a new video reflecting on how far reproductive medicine has come since she was born.
In the TikTok clip, Carr also opened up about what it’s like to be linked to IVF in the public eye at 44, and the type of curiosity she still encounters.
She explained that following her birth on December 28, 1981, the attention around her story was intense—adding that her earliest brush with the media came almost immediately, joking that her first press conference happened when she was only three days old.
Carr also credited her parents for choosing not to keep their identities hidden, saying their willingness to speak publicly made a difference.
She explained: “The doctors actually did give my parents the option to stay private. But my parents felt very strongly that people should know, no, we’re just a normal couple looking to build our family like everybody else. And our child is normal and walks and talks and sounds just like every other child.”
During the video, Carr said she sometimes laughs at the misconceptions that still linger—particularly one question that comes up more often than you might expect: whether she has a belly button.
She noted that some people mistakenly assume she developed entirely in a lab, rather than being carried in the womb like any other pregnancy.
She explained: “People do actually ask me that. They think that I was grown in a tube or a lab. Test tubes were not used, a petri dish was used.
“Inception happened inside of the petri dish and then I was put back in my mothers womb and then nine months later, here I was like everybody else.”
Carr also highlighted how IVF and related reproductive technology are used today, emphasizing that they now support a wide range of circumstances beyond infertility alone.
She continued: “One thing people should know, particularly around IVF and reproductive technology, is that the use of them is not just for the infertility community now.
“It’s people who are going on military deployment who need to time their family building.
“It is people who are going through cancer treatment who need to preserve their fertility, it is people who are LGBTQ who may need an assist from technology in order to build their family.
“By last count there is something like 12 million of us IVF babies which makes me feel really proud.”