Woman Gives Birth to Baby Conceived One Year After Her who Was Preserved as a Frozen Embryo

The frozen embryo finally got born, 24 years after conception

In a medical premiere, a woman gave birth to a baby girl who was just one year younger than her. She didn’t conceive the baby naturally, but received a donated embryo which lay frozen for over 24 years. This frozen embryo got conceived on October 14^th, 1992, but was born on November 25^th, 2017.

The mother and the baby were conceived only one year apart

The baby from the frozen embryo is now a healthy little girl, called Emma Wren Gibson. At the time of her birth, she weighed 6 pounds 8 ounces. This was a true medical premiere, as the previous frozen embryo which stood frozen for a long period of time was only 20 years old.

Once this embryo got donated, the doctors preserved it in a cryogenic form, and kept it until they found someone to receive it. Interestingly enough, the receiver happened to be a 25-year-old woman from Tennessee, Tina Gibson. However, the embryo got transplanted only in March 2017, so the baby was only one year younger than the mother who birthed it.

The new parents are extremely excited about their baby. Although they are not related to her genetically, they’re happy to finally have the baby they have always wanted, but couldn’t conceive. The woman still cannot believe the frozen embryo was actually 24 years old.

“Do you realize I’m only 25? This embryo and I could have been best friends. I just wanted a baby. I don’t care if it’s a world record or not.”

How does a frozen embryo come into being?

Whenever a couple decides to have in vitro fertilization, there are a few embryos which are left behind. In this case, they can choose to have these frozen and donate them to other couples who want to have a baby and cannot conceive.

However, bringing a frozen embryo back to a thawed state is extremely difficult. There are between 700,000 and 1 million such embryos in the US currently in a frozen state, which await their ‘adoption’. However, such procedures usually occur rarely, as couples tend to go for easier methods to have a baby.
Image Source: Pixabay