Thaddeus Daniel Pierce was was implanted into his mum after being frozen as an embryo in 1990. The incredible achievement breaks the record for the world’s oldest baby
The world’s oldest baby has been delivered from an embryo that was frozen for over three decades, created when his parents were just toddlers.
Thaddeus Daniel Pierce arrived on July 26 to parents Lindsey, 35 and Tim Pierce, 34, from Ohio. The newborn, who has shattered the record for the oldest baby, even has a 30-year-old sister who is now a mother herself to a 10-year-old daughter. The previous record was held by twins who were born from embryos frozen 30 years before they were born into the world.
Lindsay told MIT Technology Review: “We didn’t go into it thinking we would break any records. We just wanted a baby.” Tim and Lindsey would have been four and three respectively when their son’s embryo was created. It comes after a mum claimed ‘I accidentally named baby after dog food brand and I don’t know what to do’.
READ MORE: Jeremy Clarkson suffers more heartache after Diddly Squat farm struck with TBREAD MORE: Jerusalem Biblical Zoo worker fighting for life after horror leopard mauling
After seven years of attempts to conceive, Lindsey and Tim enrolled in the same programme and were offered Thaddeus’s embryo. “We had a rough birth, but we’re both doing well now,” Lindsey revealed. She added: “He is so chill. We are in awe that we have this precious baby.”
Thaddeus’s embryo was formed alongside three others during IVF treatment in the 1990s for Linda Archerd and her former husband. One of the embryos was transferred to Linda, who gave birth to her now 30 year-old-daughter.
Archerd is keen to meet him. “The first thing that I noticed when Lindsey sent me his pictures is how much he looks like my daughter when she was a baby,” she said. “I pulled out my baby book and compared them side by side, and there is no doubt that they are siblings.”
The remaining embryos were placed in long-term storage before being made available for embryo adoption when Linda and her partner divorced. Embryo adoptions are more common in the US – especially at Christian clinics – to assist families struggling with fertility.
The Pierces had to travel from their home in Ohio to the Tennessee clinic five times over a two-week period. “It was like a five-hour drive,” said Lindsey. Two embryos were transferred to Lindsey’s uterus on November 14, and one developed into a fetus.
In 2017, a baby girl was delivered from a 25 year old embryo in what was then a world first in the US. Little Emma Wren Gibson tipped the scales at 6lbs 8oz and stretched out to 20 inches at birth.
Her parents, Tina and Benjamin Gibson, insisted that their daughter’s record-breaking status was secondary to her well-being, expressing they felt “thankful and blessed” to welcome her into their lives. They were taken aback upon learning the precise age of the embryo, which was thawed on March 13 at the National Embryo Donation Center (NEDC).
“Do you realise I’m only 25? This embryo and I could have been best friends,” Tina told CNN. Tina, who was 26 when Emma was born, said her desire for a baby was more important than setting records, saying “We’re just so thankful and blessed. She’s a precious Christmas gift from the Lord.”
Emma came into the world through IVF intended for another couple but had remained frozen, awaiting a chance at life. Embryos like Emma are affectionately termed “snow babies” encapsulating the hope of potential human lives preserved in icy stasis until their moment arrives.