A woman has made history after giving birth to twin babies in the US state of Tennessee from embryos frozen more than 30 years ago.
Reports indicated the embryos were stored at around -128C (-200F) in liquid nitrogen on 22 April 1992. It is believed to be a new record for the longest-frozen embryos ever to result in a successful live birth.
Rachel Ridgeway, a mother of four from Oregon, gave birth to the twins Lydia Ann and Timothy Ronald Ridgeway from donated embryos on 31 October.
The father, Philip Ridgeway, described their birth as “mind-boggling”.
“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,” said Dr John David Gordon, who performed the embryo transfer.
The twin embryos had been created for an anonymous married couple using IVF. The man was in his 50s and reportedly relied on a 34-year-old egg donor.
They were kept in storage at a fertility lab on the US west coast until 2007 when the couple donated them to the NEDC in Knoxville, Tennessee for another couple to use them instead.
