25-Year-Old Mother Gives Birth To Embryo Frozen For 24 Years

Science produces miracles every day and in the case of one mother who gave birth after being implanted with an embryo that was frozen for the last 24 years, the proof is in the pudding. Not only is this the first case of a healthy baby being born after the embryo was stored for such a long time, the mother is also only 25 years old.

The newborn is named Emma Wren Gibson, who was delivered on November 25th and is the baby girl of Tina and Benjamin Gibson of eastern Tennessee, CNN reports. Emma was delivered by Dr. Jeffrey Keenan, a National Embryo Donation Center medical director.

This is an interesting case because Emma was originally an embryo that was frozen and stored way back on October 14, 1992. This puts the age difference between the mother and her baby, at least when considering the embryonic stage, as just one year.

"Do you realize I'm only 25? This embryo and I could have been best friends," Mrs. Gibson said.

The mother also said that the record doesn’t really matter to her since all she wanted was a baby. However, this doesn’t change the fact that her case can have wide-reaching implications for the field.

National Embryo Donation Center embryology lab director, Carol Sommerfelt was the one who thawed the embryo back in March. According to her, Emma’s birth presents an exciting time for the medical community, largely because it means that pregnancy and birth can still be possible even after the embryo had been frozen for over two decades.

This is just one example of the numerous breakthroughs that have occurred in 2017 regarding births and fertility, Futurism notes. There are lambs that developed outside of wombs, uterine transplants resulting in successful pregnancies and deliveries, not mention the 3D-printing and gene-editing marvels that were displayed over the last 12 months. Suffice it to say, things are looking up for aspiring mothers.