U.S. First Test Tube Baby Elizabeth Carr Gives Birth, Tells Her Story

(CBS)The first baby to spring forth from a test tube is now 25 year old, and a new mother herself.

Elizabeth Carr, who changed her last name to Comeau in an effort to avoid notoriety,  and her husband David, just welcomed a healthy baby boy into the world last week, according to the Boston Globe.

Elizabeth Comeau was the first child born in the U.S. from in-vitro fertilization, which, in 1981, was cutting-edge technology.

There was plenty of controversy surrounding so-called "test-tube babies." Much of the opposition came from anti-abortion activists who didn't like the fact that some of the embryos would be destroyed, according to American Heritage, a history magazine.

Nevertheless, Comeau's birth ushered in a new age. People who would have been unable to conceive now had new hope. But it came at a personal cost to Comeau and her family.

Now a journalist, Comeau recently recounted her experiences with the media in a first person essay in the Boston Globe.

"PBS cameras taped my birth, and I attended my first press conference at 3 days old," she writes.

The press didn't stop following her around as she grew - in fact, there were television cameras trained on her at high-school football games.

More than a decade later, as she got close to her due date, Comeau writes, she knew the press was waiting.

"When the phones started ringing a few weeks ago, I knew I had a choice: Either write about it myself - though I've been uncomfortable about my celebrity - or have someone else do it."

She chose the former. Read more in the Boston Globe.