Baby born to 27-year-old embryo sets record

A couple from Tennessee once again broke the record for the birth of the longest frozen embryo when they welcomed their daughter Molly in October.

Tina and Ben Gibson used a process called embryo adoption, which allows hopeful parents to receive donated embryos, they told NBC News on Wednesday. Molly is the couple’s second successful embryo adoption with the National Embryo Donation Center; her daughter Emma was born in 2017 from a 24-year-old embryo.

While not the path she expected when looking to start a family, Tina Gibson said being a mother to her two daughters was “such a miracle.” The process was a “leap of faith” for her after struggling with infertility.

“I was so scared to open my heart to the potential of having a pregnancy,” Tina Gibson said. “I was so scared it wouldn’t work. And then it would be torn from me again.

She also said that her experience made her more grateful to her children.

Clinic staff are “thrilled” for the Gibsons, said National Embryo Donation Center president Dr. Jeffrey Keenan.

“Embryo adoption is a fantastic option for so many couples,” Kennan said. “It’s an exceptionally successful and very cost effective option, and sometimes it’s really the only option for couples where the mother can actually experience pregnancy and childbirth.”

The center specializes in saving embryos from destruction by allowing families to donate a fertilized egg to others who may not be able to produce a healthy embryo.

Molly’s embryo, which was frozen in 1992, is the oldest known embryo to have resulted in a birth, according to the University of Tennessee Preston Medical Library.

The fact that Molly was born from such an old embryo, frozen with less reliable technology than what is currently available, is a good sign that there might be “no real time limit” on the length of time. life of frozen embryos, Keenan said.

“We expect even greater viability, and we expect this to be a relatively common story 27 years from now,” Keenan said.