- Baby born from 30-year-old frozen embryo, likely world’s oldest baby record
- Thaddeus Daniel Pierce born July 26 to Lindsey and Tim Pierce in Ohio
- Embryo was cryopreserved in 1994 by Linda Archerd after IVF treatment
A baby born in the US from an embryo frozen 30 years ago is believed to have broken the record for the world's 'oldest' baby. Named Thaddeus Daniel Pierce, the baby was born on July 26 from the embryo that had been cryopreserved since 1994. The baby's parents, Lindsey and Tim Pierce, who live in Ohio, had been trying to get pregnant for seven years.
The breakthrough came when they "adopted" the embryo from Linda Archerd, 62, who had it stored decades ago.
"We had a rough birth but we are both doing well now. He is so chill. We are in awe that we have this precious baby!" Lindsey Pierce, his mother, was quoted as saying by MIT Technology Review.
It was in the early 1990s that Ms Archerd and her then-husband decided to try in vitro fertilisation (IVF) after struggling to conceive. In 1994, four embryos resulted: one was transferred to Archerd and resulted in the birth of a daughter, who is now 30 and mother to a 10-year-old. The other embryos were cryopreserved and stored.
"The baby has a 30-year-old sister. It's been pretty surreal. It's hard to even believe," said Ms Archerd, who revealed that she had wanted another baby using the embryo, but her then-husband felt differently.
Ms Archerd went on to divorce him, but she won custody of the embryos and kept them in storage, still hopeful she might use them one day, perhaps with another partner.
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AI helps couple conceive
Last month, a couple trying to conceive a baby for 18 years finally managed to get pregnant thanks to the use of artificial intelligence (AI). IVF attempts were unsuccessful due to azoospermia, a rare condition in which no measurable sperm is present in the male partner's semen.
Using the STAR (Sperm Tracking and Recovery) method devised by the Columbia University Fertility Center (CUFC), the couple managed to get pregnant. Researchers at the fertility centre examined the semen sample with the AI-powered system and managed to find the hidden sperm. After recovering the sperm, it was used to fertilise the wife's egg via IVF, and she became the first-ever woman to conceive using the STAR method.
