US twins born from embryos frozen since 1992 when the father was 5 years old! – Times of India

They have broken the record of Molly Gibson who was born in 2020 from an embryo that had been frozen for 27 years. Molly took the record from her sister Emma, who was born from an embryo that had been frozen for 24 years, the report added.

The National Embryo Donation Center says baby girl Lydia was born at 5 pounds, 11 ounces, (2.5kg) and baby boy Timothy was born at 6 pounds, 7 ounces (2.92kg).

“I was 5 years old…”
The embryos were frozen on April 22, 1992 when Phillip Ridgeway, the father of twins, was 5 years old! The embryos were made through IVF for an anonymous couple; the husband was in his early 50s and the egg donor was 34 years old.

The embryos were kept at a fertility lab until 2007 after which the couple donated them to the National Embryo Donation Center in Knoxville, Tennessee.

There is something mind-boggling about it. I was 5 years old when God gave life to Lydia and Timothy, and he’s been preserving that life ever since, Philip Ridgeway, the father of the twins, told the media.

“In a sense, they’re our oldest children, even though they’re our smallest children,” he added.

Lydia and Timothy have four siblings, aged 8, 6, 3 and a young one nearing 2. None of the other kids of the Ridgeways have been conceived through IVF or donors.

“We just wanted the ones that had been waiting the longest”
“We weren’t looking to get the embryos that have been frozen the longest in the world,” Philip Ridgeway told the media. “We just wanted the ones that had been waiting the longest,” he added.

Usually in IVF, couples produce more embryos than they use. The unused embryos are either preserved, donated for research studies or else donated to people who like to have children.

Embryo freezing is an assisted reproduction technique in which eggs are removed from the ovaries and fertilized to form embryos. These are grown for some days and are then frozen. When thawed, the fertilized eggs — embryos — are implanted in a person.