Mom Uses 27-Year-Old Embryo And Gives Birth to Healthy Baby Girl — Sets New Record

Dec 08, 2020

Parents Ben and Tina Gibson from Tennessee have two very special daughters: both of them have set records when they were born for being the longest-frozen embryos to have resulted in a birth. Their newest addition, Molly Gibson, was born in October 2020 and was frozen as an embryo in October 1992. Her genetic sibling, Emma, set a record in 2017 for being the longest-frozen embryo for 24 years before being born. Her sister Molly now takes over for her. 

Molly Gibson could have been at any point in the last 27 years, and by being born this past October, she has already made history. Born on the 26th, she spent 27 years frozen as an embryo before she was implanted in her mother's uterus in February 2020, BBC News reported. The fact that she has been preserved for so long and resulted in a healthy, live birth is truly a beautiful miracle. 

Before Molly, her sister Emma, who was born in November 2017 had previously set the record for being preserved for 24 and a half years before she made her way into the world. Both sisters had been frozen together as embryos, which makes the full genetic siblings, ABC News reported.

“When Tina and Ben returned for their sibling transfer, I was thrilled that the remaining two embryos from the donor that resulted in Emma Wren’s birth survived the thaw and developed into two very good quality embryos for their transfer,” National Embryo Donation Center lab director and embryologist Carol Sommerfelt told ABC News, who also thawed Molly’s embryo:

“This definitely reflects on the technology used all those years ago and its ability to preserve the embryos for future use under an indefinite time frame.”

The National Embryo Donation Center (NEDC) is a faith-based, non-profit organization located in Nashville, Tennesse, that helps couples and families who are using in-vitro fertilization. They store frozen embryos that couples decide not to use choose to donate instead, as reported by BBC News. Families like the Gibsons can choose to adopt one of the embryos and give birth to a child that will not be genetically related to them. According to the NEDC, there are an estimated one million frozen human embryos currently stored in the US. 

The Gibsons had not heard of embryo adoptions before but knew they wanted a child. Tina Gibson told CNN in 2017 when Emma was born, "My husband has cystic fibrosis, so infertility is common," and added that they had found peace with it. "We had decided that we were more than likely going to adopt, and we were fine with that." However, the couple wasn't sold on the idea of embryonic adoptions after Tina Gibson's father brought it up after seeing about it in 2016 ABC News segment.

However, once the idea was presented to them, it was planted in their hearts and began to bloom. They decided to completely educate themselves about the topic and immersed themselves in all the literature and videos available to them. Four months after they had heard about the idea, they prayed about it and filled out an application. Once they were accepted, they began the process quite quickly. By November 2017, Emma was born. 

"I had never heard of embryo adoption before," Tina Gibson told CafeMom.

"It was just truly amazing to know what God can do to move things in our life exactly the way that they are meant to be, and to give hope especially for families that may not be able to conceive on their own."

Before Emma and Molly's birth, very little was known about the viability of older embryos. "This definitely reflects on the technology used all those years ago and its ability to preserve the embryos for future use under an indefinite time frame," Sommerfelt, the center's director told CNN.

As for the happy parents, Molly has been a ray of happiness in their home. "Every single day, my husband and I talk about it," she said. "We're always like, 'Can you believe we have not one little girl, but two little girls? Can you believe we're parents to multiple children?'" she said and added, "you would think that throughout pregnancy that I would just be used to it, but I'm still completely blown away that they are ours."

What do you think of this miraculous birth? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, and be sure to share this with your friends and family. It might just make their day!