An embryo frozen 30 years ago was implanted and later born to an Ohio couple, setting a new world record. It is understood that the baby is the result of the longest frozen embryo to result in a live birth.
The baby boy, Thaddeus Daniel Pierce, was born to 35-year-old mother Lindsey and 34-year-old father Tim Pierce after the couple tried for seven years for children.
Lindsey told MIT Technology Review her family thought "it's like something from a sci-fi movie".
Baby Thaddeus took the record from a pair of twins born in 2022 who evolved from embryos frozen in 1992.
Embryo donation
Thaddeus was one of four embryos frozen by Linda Archerd, 62, and her then-husband in 1994 through IVF. After birthing her adult daughter, Archerd decided to donate the remaining embryos.
Archerd would go on to pay thousands of dollars a year for storage of the embryos until she found a Christian embryo adoption agency, Nightlight Christian Adoptions, which runs a program known as Snowflakes. The agency, according to the BBC, allows embryo owners to choose families based on their religious, racial, and nationality preferences.
Archerd reportedly chose a married Caucasian, Christian couple living in the US, and was matched with the Pierces.