This couple gives birth to the 'world's oldest baby', born from a frozen embryo kept since...

First time in medical history, a baby was born from an embryo that was frozen for 30 years. The baby boy was born in the United States in a healthy condition and has made the record for being the world's 'oldest' baby. He is named Thaddeus Daniel Pierce and was born on July 26. The embryo had been cryopreserved since 1994, making it the longest-known interval between embryo freezing and birth, this event not only showcases the advances in fertility science but also opens up fresh possibilities for couples struggling with infertility.

How it happened?

Its parents, Lindsey and Tim Pierce, who live in Ohio, had been trying to get pregnant for seven years. However, it was when they decided to take a big step and “adopted” the embryo from Linda Archerd, 62, who had the embryo stored three decades back. MIT Technology Review quoted the baby’s mother, Lindsey Pierce as saying, “We had a rough birth, but we are both doing well now. He is so chill. We are in awe that we have this precious baby!”.

What is the story behind the decade's old embryo?

After struggling to conceive for a long time, Archerd and her then-husband opted for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) in the early 1990s. The result was surprisingly amazing, as in 1994, four embryos were produced, one of them was put into Archerd’s uteras which gave her a daughter, who is now 30 and mother to a 10-year-old. The other three embryos were cryopreserved and stored.

The embryos were originally frozen in 1992 by Linda Archerd, which had remained in deep freeze. The couple undergoing in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) in 1994, made a humane decision to not discard their unused embryos and donate the remaining to be used by other families.

Doctors cautiously defrosted the embryo and transferred it into Lindsey’s uterus. This was done at Rejoice Fertility, a Christian non-profit IVF centre in Tennessee that offers embryo adoption. The process went well as it was implanted successfully. After months, Thaddeus Daniel Pierce was born as a healthy baby, becoming the world's oldest baby. Had he been born in its original time his age would have been around 30.

Can frozen embryos expire?

According to experts, the frozen embryos have no biological “expiry date”, but only if they are kept under ideal conditions.