JAKARTA - Baby girl named Molly Gibson is just over one month old. However, it is unique that Molly's embryo is 27 years old. The embryos were frozen in October 1992 and continued to freeze until early February 2020.
Quoting CNN, Friday, December 4, the couple Tina and Ben Gibson from Tennessee, United States (US) then adopted the embryo. Tina gave birth to Molly in late October. Molly's birth set a record for the longest frozen embryo known to result in a birth.
But that's not an important note for Tina and Ben Gibson. Tina's pregnancy from a frozen embryo is not the first. Tina was previously pregnant with a baby who was later named Emma, who was also from a frozen embryo.
Tina gets Emma and Molly's pregnancy assistance from the National Embryo Donation Center, a faith-based non-profit organization in Knoxville that stores frozen embryos that patients have decided not to give birth to. A family can adopt an embryo, which is then transferred to the womb of the adoptive mother.
Emma, Gibson's eldest daughter, was born in November 2017 and set the previous record for the longest frozen embryo known to result in a birth. Emma's embryos were frozen for 24 years.
Before Emma and Molly set records, little was known about the survival of older embryos. When she finds out Emma's embryo has been frozen for so long, Tina worries that age will reduce her chances of conceiving.
But Dr. Jeffrey Keenan, center president and medical director, assured her that such age would not affect the results. He said in his release that Emma and Molly's birth was proof that old embryos shouldn't be thrown away.
"This clearly reflects the technology used many years ago and its ability to preserve embryos for future use in an indefinite time frame," said Carol Sommerfelt, laboratory director and embryologist.
About 75 percent of all donated embryos survive the thawing and transfer process. Between 25 percent and 30 percent of all transfers are successful, Sommerfelt said in 2017 when Emma was born.
Questions remain about the age difference in successful embryo birth. But the organization says the birth of Gibson's daughter is a positive example of the use of aged embryos.
The second embryo Gibson adopted was not thawed and transferred to Gibson's womb until February. Gibson said he found out he was pregnant just days before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic.
"He's been a little bit of a joy for 2020," said Tina.
Born in late October weighing 2.7 kilograms, Molly lights up her family's world. Although he and his sister are medical marvels, Gibson says the thing that strikes him the most is the fact that they are both his children.
"Every day, my husband and I talk about it," she said. "We were always like, 'Can you believe that Lota has not only one little girl, but two little girls? You believe we are the parents of lots of kids?"
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