Tennessee woman Tina Gibson, 26, gave birth to her daughter, Emma, in November. But, as CNN reports, baby Emma is the result of an embryo frozen in October 1992 — only one year after her mother was born.
According to CNN, Emma’s arrival marks the longest known frozen human embryo to result in a successful birth. Prior to this, the oldest known frozen human embryo to lead to successful birth was 20 years old.
Gibson’s husband Benjamin, 33, has cystic fibrosis, a life-threatening condition that can cause infertility. The couple therefore decided to foster several children for a few years, before opting to “adopt” an embryo that had been created for in vitro fertilization by an anonymous couple. The embryos had been left in storage so that someone who wasn’t able or willing to conceive a child naturally could give birth.
As the couple prepared for an implantation procedure in March, they chose an embryo after going through 300 donor “profiles” (full of basic genetic information from the genetic parents). But after the embryo they picked was thawed, they were shocked to learn it had been frozen in 1992. “Do you realize I’m only 25? This embryo and I could have been best friends,” Gibson said at the time.
Emma was born healthy, weighing six pounds, eight ounces, according to CNN. “I just wanted a baby. I don’t care if it’s a world record or not,” Gibson said.
