'I took one look at baby I'd given birth to and knew he wasn't mine - but giving him up broke me'

Krystena Murray took one look at the baby she'd just given birth to and knew there'd been a terrible mistake - but loved him as her own child regardless of what the DNA test said

A woman implanted with the wrong embryo in a botched IVF procedure says seeing the baby for the first time was both the "happiest and scariest moment of my life".

Krystena Murray, who is white, realised there had been a mistake when she gave birth to a Black boy in December 23. The 38-year-old had chosen a sperm donor - who is also white - through Coastal Fertility Specialists in Savannah, Georgia.

Despite her shock at the baby's appearance, Ms Murray immediately loved him as her own child and hoped there had been a mix-up with the sperm rather than the embryo, meaning that the child was still biologically hers. But a DNA test revealed the heartbreaking truth - and after spending five months bonding with the boy, she had to give up custody to his biological parents.

She is now suing the IVF clinic in a lawsuit which alleges she “unknowingly and unwillingly carried a child through pregnancy who was not biologically related to her". Losing custody of the baby also "added to her trauma", the lawsuit says.

"The birth of my child was supposed to be the happiest moment of my life, and honestly, it was. But it was also the scariest moment of my life,” Ms Murray said at a news conference. “All of the love and joy I felt seeing him for the first time was immediately replaced by fear. How could this have happened?”

In February 2024, Ms Murray's lawyer contacted the clinic which identified and contacted the baby's biological parents, who later sued for custody. She handed over the baby to his parents in court, leaving her devastated.

“I walked in a mum with a child and a baby who loved me and was mine and was attached to me, and I walked out of the building with an empty stroller, and they left with my son,” she told NBC News.

“I grew him, I raised him, I loved him. I saw him no different than if he were mine, my own genetic embryo. To carry a baby, fall in love with him, deliver him, and build the uniquely special bond between mother and baby, all to have him taken away."

She added: "I'll never fully recover from this."

Coastal Fertility Specialists said it “deeply regrets the distress caused by an unprecedented error that resulted in an embryo transfer mix-up.”

“This was an isolated event with no further patients affected," it said in a statement. "The same day this error was discovered we immediately conducted an in-depth review and put additional safeguards in place to further protect patients and to ensure that such an incident does not happen again."

Ms Murray accuses the clinic of negligence and is seeking damages.