A baby boy has been born from an embryo which was frozen more than 30 years ago, in what is thought to be a new world record.
The infant was born to a couple from Ohio on Saturday, in a case which is believed to be the longest that an embryo has been frozen before resulting in a successful live birth.
Lindsey Pierce, 34, and her husband Tim, 35, welcomed Thaddeus Daniel Pierce under circumstances which Lindsey told MIT Technology Review are “like something from a sci-fi movie”.
The couple had been trying to have a child for seven years before they decided to adopt an embryo which Linda Archerd, 62, had made in 1994 through IVF with her then-husband.
Archerd initially created four embryos, one of which is her now-30-year-old daughter.
The other three were left in storage.
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A baby boy has been born from an embryo which was frozen more than 30 years ago
Archerd donated them, either for research or to be given to another family anonymously, as she did not want to get rid of them despite separating from her husband.
She then paid thousands of dollars a year for storage before she found Nightlight Christian Adoptions, a Christian embryo adoption agency.
The agency runs a programme called Snowflakes, which, according to its website, has seen over 1,300 babies born to their adoption families since its conception in 1997.
The programme allowed Archerd, and all other donors, to choose a couple.
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The previous record was a pair of twins who were born in 2022 from embryos frozen in 1992
Snowflakes also allows donors to lay out their religious, racial, and nationality preferences about their child’s adoptive parents.
Archerd said it was very important for her to be involved in the baby’s life, as they would be related to her now-adult daughter.
She said her preference was for a married Caucasian, Christian couple living in the US, telling MIT Technology Review she did not want to have to “go out of the country”.
In the end, she matched with the Pierces.
Rejoice Fertility, the IVF clinic in Tennessee used by the couple, declared its aim was to transfer any embryo it received – despite the age or conditions.
Lindsey said neither her goal, nor her husband’s, was to “break any records”, rather they just “wanted to have a baby”.
Archerd told MIT Technology Review she had yet to meet the baby in person, but could already see a resemblance with her daughter.
The previous record was a pair of twins who were born in 2022 from embryos frozen in 1992.
