The “oldest” child in the world was born. In a sense, he is already 28 years old

Molly’s mother, Tina, now a 29-year-old woman, was born only 18 months before Molly was frozen in her “embryonic form.” In a way, it can be said that although they are one generation apart, they have been on our planet for the same length of time.

“It’s pretty hard to understand. But as for us, Molly is our little miracle,” Tina Gibson told the American daily. The New York Post.

She was not born alone 28 years ago

According to the server Science Alert but this whole remarkable story is even more tangled. By birth, Molly broke the record of the previous child born from a frozen embryo, which is Emma Wren Gibson. She was born in 2017 from an embryo that had been frozen 24 years earlier.

And Emma is also Molly’s older sister, so the two girls, who were born from the two longest frozen embryos, are part of the same family at the same time. “It might sound strange, almost as if the Gibson family, which had struggled with infertility for several years, ran for the Guinness Book of World Records. But it makes sense if you know the whole story,” Science Alert said.

Molly and Emma are genetically complete siblings whose embryos were frozen after being anonymously donated by their biological parents, whose identities were not disclosed.

In other words, they are real own sisters and at the same time adoptive children of Tina, who brought them both and gave birth to them. It just took a little longer than usual. “We’re on a branch. I still can’t catch my breath. If someone had told me five years ago I wasn’t going to have one girl but two, I’d think he was crazy,” Tina Gibson told the North American delegation. BBC.

The embryo lasts a long time

The birth was made possible by staff at the National Embryo Donation Center (NEDC) in Knoxville, a Christian non-profit organization that accepts donated embryos from biological parents who have undergone in vitro fertilization (IVF) but chose not to deliver the baby for various reasons.

In such cases, parents can donate frozen NEDC embryos, which will keep them for future parents, usually couples struggling with infertility. These couples apply for the possibility to adopt, deliver and give birth to the embryo.

According to Science Alert, the center has already provided more than a thousand successful births in this form, but Emma and Molly are unique among them, because they are the longest frozen embryos that have ever become newborns. Both girls “offered” science unique evidence of how long frozen embryos can last.

“If the embryos are properly maintained in a liquid nitrogen tank at minus 396 degrees, we believe they can last indefinitely,” Carol Sommerfelt, director of the NEDC laboratory, told The New York Post. “Thanks to Molly’s birth, we know they can survive for at least 27 and a half years, probably longer.”

However, there is still great risk and uncertainty in the process. According to the NEDC, about 75 percent of donated embryos survive the freezing and thawing process, and delivery occurs successfully in about 49 percent of cases. However, the success rate for frozen embryos has leveled off in recent years, according to the Center, and is now expected to be as successful as the delivery of fresh embryos.

The case of Molly and Emmy is also remarkable in that their embryos were born at almost the same time as their mother was born. According to Tina Gibson, this fact was discovered only when the first embryo was to be transferred. “Can it mean anything?” she asked the specialist who cared for her. “Well, it could be a world record,” he replied.

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