Parents Witness Birth of Twin Kids from frozen Embryos For 30 Years Ago

In the US state of Tennessee, twin kids were born from embryos that were frozen more than 30 years ago. It is thought to set a new record for the longest-frozen embryos to give birth to a healthy child. On April 22, 1992, they were kept in liquid nitrogen at a temperature of around -128C (-200F). The twins were born on October 31 to Oregon resident Rachel Ridgeway, a mother of four.

Philip Ridgeway, the father, called it “mind-boggling.” According to the National Embryo Donation Center (NEDC), a private, faith-based organization that claims to have assisted in the birth of more than 1,200 children from donated embryos, Lydia Ann and Timothy Ronald Ridgeway most certainly set a new record. Molly Gibson, who held the previous record for NEDC, was born in 2020 from an embryo that had been stored in cryopreservation for almost 27 years.

Dr. John David Gordon, who carried out the embryo transfer, said that “The decision… to adopt these embryos should reassure patients who wonder if anyone would be willing to adopt the embryos that they created 5, 10, 20 years ago,” “That answer is a resounding yes!”

The twin embryos (twin kids) were produced through IVF for an unnamed married couple. The man, who was in his 50s, apparently used an egg donor who was 34 years old. The couple donated them to the NEDC in Knoxville, Tennessee in 2007 so that another couple may use them instead of keeping them in storage at a fertility lab on the US west coast.

The thawing and transfer to the uterus were then carried out earlier this year by embryologists at Southeastern Fertility, a partner facility of the NEDC. The NEDC expressed its desire for the news to “encourage others to experience the blessings of embryo adoption for themselves”. in a statement.

It is the first child the Ridgeways—who already have four other kids ranging in age from one to eight—have conceived through IVF or a donor.
Philip Ridgeway told CNN from the family’s home: “I was five years old when God gave life to Lydia and Timothy, and he’s been preserving that life ever since,” Philip Ridgeway told CNN from the family’s home.