Baby breaks records after being born at age 27
Molly Gibson may only be one month old, but she could have been born at any point during the last 27 years.
Her embryo was frozen in October 1992 and remained frozen until earlier this year in February, when Tina and Ben Gibson of Tennessee adopted her embryo.
Tina gave birth to Molly in late October, almost 27 years after her embryo was frozen.
Her birth has set a new record, one that was previously held by her older sister Emma, for the longest-frozen embryo known to have resulted in a birth.
But the records don’t matter to the Gibsons.
“With Emma, we were just so smitten to have a baby,” Tina Gibson said.
“With Molly, we’re the same way. It’s just kind of funny - here we go again with another world record.”
Tina was assisted by the National Embryo Donation Centre when trying to fall pregnant, a faith-based nonprofit in Knoxville that stores frozen embryos in vitro fertilisation patients have decided not to use.
Families are able to adopt those unused embryos, which are then transferred to an adoptive parent’s uterus.
Her first-born’s embryo was frozen for 24 years until Tina gave birth to her in November 2017, and according to the centre, held the previous record for the longest-frozen embryo known to have resulted in a birth.
Hers was frozen for 24 years.
Before the two sisters broke records, not much was known about the viability of older embryos.
And when Tina discovered just how old her embryos were, she was concerned the age would lessen her chances of becoming pregnant.
But according to Dr Jeffrey Keenan, the centre’s president and medical director, the age has no impact on the outcome.
He said in a release both Emma and Molly’s births are proof that embryos shouldn’t be discarded because they’re “old.”
“This definitely reflects on the technology used all those years ago and its ability to preserve the embryos for future use under an indefinite time frame,” said Carol Sommerfelt, the centre’s lab director and embryologist, in a release.
Approximately 75 per cent of donated embryos survive the thawing and transfer process, and between 25 and 30 per cent of all implants are successful, according to Sommerfelt, who spoke to CNN when Emma was born.