US couple welcomes twins born from frozen embryos 30 years ago, breaks record

A previous record has been broken: An Oregon couple welcomed twins from embryos frozen in April 1992, 30 years ago. NewsMadura reported. The previously known record holder was Molly Gibson, born in 2020 from an embryo that had been frozen for nearly 27 years. The Oregon twins, dubbed “the world’s oldest babies,” were born Oct. 31 to Rachel Ridgeway and Philip Ridgeway.

The National Embryo Donation Center says the twins, named Lydia and Timothy Ridgeway, are the longest frozen embryos to result in a live birth. While baby girl Lydia was born weighing 2.5 kg, baby Timothy was born weighing 2.92 kg.

The babies were the result of embryo donation, usually from parents who have extra embryos after successfully having babies through in vitro fertilization (IVF). Thirty years ago, an anonymous donor couple who had used in vitro fertilization donated the embryos, which were frozen at 200 degrees below zero. The embryos were frozen on April 22, 1992, and remained in cold storage at a West Coast fertility lab until 2007, when the couple donated them to the National Embryo Donation Center (NEDC). Fifteen years later, the frozen embryos led to the birth of Lydia and Timothy.

The Ridgeways, who already have four other children, ages 8, 6, 3 and almost 2, decided to have more children by using donated embryos. When looking for donors, the couple specifically looked in a category called “special attention,” meaning embryos for whom it’s been hard to find recipients.

said Mr. Ridgeway NewsMadura: “We weren’t looking for the embryos that have been frozen the longest in the world. We just wanted the embryos that had waited the longest. There’s something bewildering about it. In a way, they are our oldest children, even though they are our smallest children .”

“I was 5 years old when God gave birth to Lydia and Timothy, and he has kept that life ever since,” the happy father added.

Harvard Medical School fertility expert Ellen S. Glazer said there are countless IVF-created embryos whose future path has five options. The options are:
1. The embryo can be discarded
2. The couple can decide to have another child
3. The embryos can be donated to Science
4. The embryos can be donated to another person or couple
5. Decide not to decide