A baby boy born in Ohio, United States, is being called the “world’s oldest baby” after being delivered from an embryo that had been frozen for more than 30 years.
Thaddeus Daniel Pierce was born on July 26 via adopted IVF to Lindsey and Tim Pierce, a couple from London, Ohio.
The embryo had been frozen since May 1994, according to an exclusive report by MIT Technology Review.
Lindsey noted that her husband Tim, 35, was just a toddler when Thaddeus’s embryo was first created.
“The baby has a 30-year-old sister,” she added, referencing the biological daughter born from the same embryo batch in 1994.
The Pierces said they were stunned to learn that adopting embryos was even possible.
“We thought it was wild.
“We didn’t know they froze embryos that long ago.
“We didn’t go into it thinking we would break any records. We just wanted to have a baby,” said Lindsey.
To complete the IVF process, the couple travelled from Ohio to Tennessee.
The embryo originated from Lydia Archerd, now 62, who, along with her then-husband, had frozen four embryos in the early 1990s after struggling to conceive.
One of the embryos was successfully implanted in a surrogate named Linda, who gave birth to a healthy baby girl in 1994. That daughter is now 30 and has a 10-year-old of her own.
The remaining three embryos stayed cryogenically frozen. Despite divorcing and never having another child, Archerd continued paying $1,000 annually to preserve them.
“I always wanted another baby desperately.
“I called them my three little hopes,” she said.
Eventually, after reaching menopause, Archerd decided to donate the embryos through the Nightlight Christian Adoptions agency’s “embryo adoption” programme, which allows both donors and recipients to meet.
According to the MIT Technology Review, she’s looking forward to meeting Thaddeus and believes he already resembles her daughter.
His parents, Lindsey and Tim Pierce, were themselves only young children when that embryo was created, all the way back in 1994. Linda Archerd, who donated the embryo, described the experience as “surreal.”
Tim and Lindsey are his birth parents, but his genes came from two other people who divorced decades ago.
And while baby Thaddeus is a record-breaker, plenty of other babies have been born from embryos that were frozen for long periods.
There are several reasons why people who create embryos might never use them. Archerd said that while she had always planned to use all four of the embryos she created with her then husband, he didn’t want a bigger family.
Some couples create embryos and later separate.
Others “age out” of eligibility, many clinics refuse to transfer embryos to people in their late 40s or older.
MIT Technology Review states that Thaddeus has now overtaken the previous record-holders: twins Lydia Ann and Timothy Ronald Ridgeway, born in 2022 from embryos created in 1992.
Before that, the title was held by Molly Gibson, born from an embryo frozen for 27 years.
These stories suggest there may be no known limit to how long embryos can be stored.
Even after more than 30 years at -196°C (-321°F), they can still be implanted and develop into healthy babies.
