There\u2019s a mere 18-month age gap between this proud mom and her baby \u2014 and thanks to the wonders of science, the record-breaking infant is technically 27 years old.<\/p>\n
Molly Everette Gibson was born from an embryo that was frozen in October 1992 \u2014 only 18 months after her mother, Tina, now 29, was born in April 1991.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to wrap your head around it,\u201d Tina told The Post from her home in Knoxville, Tennessee. \u201cBut, as far as we\u2019re concerned, Molly is our little miracle.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to researchers at the University of Tennessee Preston Medical Library, the girl enters the history books as the longest-frozen embryo known to result in a live birth.<\/p>\n
Remarkably, Molly\u2019s Oct. 26 arrival\u00a0broke the previous record\u00a0held by her sister, Emma Wren, who spent 24 years on ice before her delivery in November 2017.<\/p>\n
The embryos were frozen together and are full genetic siblings. They were thawed nearly three years apart at the\u00a0National Embryo Donation Center\u00a0(NEDC) before their respective transfers into Tina\u2019s uterus.<\/p>\n
Since they were donated anonymously, their biological parents remain unknown.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is very rewarding for me to see an embryo that was frozen years ago result in the birth of a lovely baby,\u201d said NEDC lab director Dr. Carol Sommerfelt. \u201cI feel honored to be part of the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tina and her husband, Benjamin, 36, first turned to the NEDC after trying naturally for their own child over the course of five years. Benjamin has cystic fibrosis, which can cause infertility.<\/p>\n
The pair, married now for 10 years, had previously fostered kids and were considering traditional adoption. But, in early 2017, Tina\u2019s parents told them about the nonprofit organization after watching an item about it on the local TV news.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were like, \u2018That sounds crazy. No, thank you, we\u2019re not interested,\u2019\u2009\u201d recalled Tina of the prospect of\u00a0conceiving with a donor embryo. \u201cThen we kept thinking about it and couldn\u2019t get it out of our minds.\u201d<\/p>\n
They visited the center (conveniently based in their home city) and were presented with the profiles of around 300 strangers who had donated spare embryos following IVF treatment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe weren\u2019t picky,\u201d said Tina, who works as an elementary school teacher. \u201cWe just wanted a baby.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, they narrowed the choice to couples who were short in stature \u2014 \u201cwe\u2019re both small people,\u201d laughed Tina \u2014 before considering the donors\u2019 health backgrounds. They finally selected the embryo that later became Emma in March 2017.<\/p>\n\n
Tina only discovered on the day of the transfer that it had been frozen for 24 years. \u201cI asked the specialist, Dr. Jeffrey Keenan: \u2018What does that mean?\u2019\u2009\u201d she remembered. \u201cAnd he replied: \u2018Well, it could be a world record.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI trusted him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emma turned out to be the light of their lives. After a couple of years, the Gibsons wanted to provide her with a brother or sister. Deciding to transfer the two remaining embryos from the same donors was a no-brainer.<\/p>\n
Sommerfelt, who once again supervised the delicate thawing process, told The Post: \u201cAs long as the embryos are maintained correctly in the liquid nitrogen storage tank at minus 396 degrees, we feel they may be good indefinitely.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the birth of Molly, we know they can survive at least 27 and a half years and probably longer.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Gibsons\u2019 second daughter was delivered weighing 6 pounds and 13 ounces after a relatively straightforward labor.<\/p>\n
It hasn\u2019t fazed them that Molly is considered something of \u201ca big deal\u201d in medical circles. Tina added: \u201cTo us, it\u2019s more unbelievable that we have two precious little children that we never thought we could have.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hold Molly \u2014 this itty bitty baby \u2014 and we feel blessed.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for Molly\u2019s big sister, she seems unruffled by the loss of her record as the ultimate \u201csnowflake baby,\u201d the often-used colloquial term for frozen embryos.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey might have to fight it out when they get older,\u201d quipped Tina.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, Emma is \u201cobsessed\u201d with the 5-week-old, and constantly wants to pick her up. She was thrilled to receive a special doll when Molly joined the household. The tot named the toy after her sister and, according to Mom, \u201ccopies everything we do [to the baby] with her doll.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, Ben and Tina are already discussing plans to expand their loving family.<\/p>\n
Next time, it will likely be done through conventional adoption. They can\u2019t get the girls another biological sibling from the NEDC, after all. \u201cWe\u2019ve used up all the \u2018genetic\u2019 embryos to get Emma and Molly,\u201d concluded Tina. \u201cFor them, we will forever be thankful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Brian Levine, practice director of Manhattan fertility clinic\u00a0CCRM, told The Post that frozen embryos do not have a known shelf life.<\/p>\n
Adv<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n Still, it is important to consider that those put on ice in the 1980s and 1990s \u201chave potential for degradation over time\u201d since the \u201cslow freeze\u201d technique used by specialists back then could \u201ccreate vulnerabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n Although he said there is no evidence that the slow freezing could lead to any \u201cdefects or disabilities\u201d in future offspring,\u00a0\u201cMy concern would be fragility in the [in vitro fertilization (IVF)] environment,\u201d said Levine. \u201cWhereas the embryos of the new millennia will likely last and perform far superior to those frozen in the 1990s.\u201d<\/p>\n This is due to today\u2019s use of vitrification, also known as flash freezing, and the ability to test embryos on a viability scale.<\/p>\n Levine added that many storage facilities contain decades-old embryos because a lot of IVF parents don\u2019t want to dispose of\u00a0the leftover fruit of their loins.<\/p>\n \u201cThey feel emotionally attached to these embryos they worked so hard to create,\u201d he said. \u201cBeing asked to discard them is emotionally taxing, so it\u2019s easier just to pay a yearly rent [typically between $500 and $1,000] for the storage.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n There\u2019s a mere 18-month age gap between this proud mom and her baby \u2014 and thanks to the wonders of science, the record-breaking infant is technically 27 years old. Molly Everette Gibson was born from an embryo that was frozen in October 1992 \u2014 only 18 months after her mother, Tina, now 29, was born …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":69866,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[38],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\r\n \t