KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (NewsNation Now/WATE) – A newborn baby girl in East Tennessee set a new record for the longest frozen embryo to be born.
Molly Everette Gibson arrived just weeks ago, but her birth story begins on Oct. 14, 1992. That’s when she and her sister-to-be were cryopreserved as embryos.
Fast-forward decades later, when Ben and Tina Gibson were facing infertility issues and decided to plan a family their own way. In 2017, the Gibsons adopted embryos from the National Embryo Donation Center, and with the help of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), one of the embryos was transferred to Tina Gibson’s uterus.
Tina gave birth to Emma Wren on Nov. 25, 2017, and at the time, she set the record for longest frozen embryo to be born —24 years. Emma’s sister, Molly, took the title in 2020 after she was frozen as an embryo for 27 years.
Interestingly enough, Emma and Molly were conceived around eighteen months after Tina Gibson was born!
“I am so glad I have these sweet little blessings,” Tina Gibson said. “It was worth the wait.”
The National Embryo Donation Center in Knoxville said the Gibsons are not alone. The group does about 200 to 300 embryo adoptions and transfers every year.
Dr. John Gordon who specializes in IVF says technology is what makes this all work.
“The ability to freeze these embryos in liquid nitrogen at negative 170 degrees, will keep them in the state of animation,” said Dr. Gordon. “When you think about embryos being frozen, they are a group of cells that have the potential to go on and become a baby.”