Baby born to 27-year-old embryo reportedly breaks big sister’s record

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Her embryo was frozen in October 1992 and remained frozen until early that year in February, when Tina and Ben Gibson from Tennessee adopted her embryo. Tina gave birth to Molly in late October – almost 27 years after her embryo was frozen.

Molly’s birth is believed to set a new record – the one previously held by her older sister, Emma – for the frozen embryo longest known to have resulted in a birth. Not that records matter to Gibsons.

“With Emma, ​​we were so excited to have a baby,” Tina Gibson told CNN on Tuesday. “With Molly, we’re the same way. It’s just funny enough – we’re starting over with another world record.”

Gibson got pregnant with Emma and Molly with help from the National Embryo Donation Center, a faith-based nonprofit in Knoxville that stores frozen embryos that IVF patients have decided not to use. Families can adopt these unused embryos, which are then transferred to the uterus of an adoptive parent.
Emma, ​​the oldest daughter of the Gibsons, was born in November 2017 and set the previous record for the longest frozen embryo known to have resulted in a birth, according to the center. His was frozen for 24 years.

Use older embryos

Before Emma and then Molly set records, little was known about the viability of older embryos. And when she found out that Emma’s embryo had been frozen for so long, Gibson feared that age would reduce her chances of getting pregnant.

But Dr Jeffrey Keenan, president and medical director of the center, assured him that age is unlikely to affect the outcome. He said in a statement that Emma’s and Molly’s births are proof that embryos shouldn’t be thrown out because they’re “old.”

“This definitely reflects the technology used all those years ago and its ability to preserve embryos for future use in an indefinite period of time,” Carol Sommerfelt, laboratory director and embryologist at the center, said in a statement.

About 75% of all donated embryos survive the thawing and transfer process, and between 25-30% of all implants succeed, Sommerfelt told CNN in 2017, when Emma was born.

Questions remain about the age difference in the successful birth of an embryo, but the center says births to Gibson daughters are two positive examples of using older embryos.

Molly’s birth was a bright spot during the pandemic

The second embryo adopted by the Gibsons was not thawed and transferred to Gibson’s uterus until February. Gibson said she found out she was pregnant with Molly just days before Covid-19 was declared a pandemic.

“She’s definitely been a little spark of joy for 2020,” she said.

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Born in late October at 6 pounds, 13 ounces, Molly has brightened the world with her family. And while she and her sister are medical wonders, Gibson said the thing that surprised her the most was the fact that they were both hers.

“Every day my husband and I talk about it,” she says. “We’re always like, ‘Can you believe that we don’t have one baby girl, but two little girls? Can you believe that we are the parents of several children?”

Gibson told CNN in 2017, when Emma was born, that she and her husband struggled with infertility. The couple cared about traditional adoption, but after her parents suggested verifying embryo adoption, their path unexpectedly changed.

“You would think throughout the pregnancy I would just be used to this, but I’m still completely blown away that they’re ours,” she said.

Correction: An earlier version of this story had the wrong first name for the president of the National Embryo Donation Center. This is Dr. Jeffrey Keenan.

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