LONDON, Jan. 13: Louise Brown, who 28 years ago became the world's first test-tube baby, has given birth to a child of her own. Ms Brown conceived her baby, thought to be a boy, naturally.

Her husband, security officer Wesley Mullinder, 37, was said to be thrilled at the birth.

The Sun newspaper said the new mother was spotted with a carrycot outside her Bristol home and quoted a friend as saying the couple were "over the moon".

It reported that Ms Brown, an administrative assistant, had previously said: "We'd love to have children of our own and - hopefully - we won't need to use IVF."

Mr Mullinder had previously told of the couple’s excitement when they found out that they were to become parents.

He said: "Louise will make a fantastic mother."

Ms Brown's birth, on July 25, 1978, created headlines throughout the world and followed a decade of research on finding ways to fertilise human eggs outside the body.

She was born by Caesarean section at the Royal Oldham Hospital thanks to the efforts of Dr Robert Edwards, who jointly invented the IVF technique that led to her birth, and the late Dr Patrick Steptoe, a gynaecologist at the hospital.

The successful birth paved the way for infertile couples all over the world to have children through IVF.

Mr Mullinder met his wife in 2002 at a Bristol nightclub where he worked as a doorman. The couple wed in 2004.