The wonders of reproductive medicine allowed a baby to be born from a 27-year-old frozen embryo
News outlets around the United States and the world are reporting on an amazing story. A Tennessee couple had a beautiful baby girl after they adopted a donor embryo. But the story doesn’t end there. When the Gibson family welcomed little Molly, they gave birth to a baby from the longest-frozen embryo known to result in a live birth. Yes, their baby was born from a 27-year-old frozen embryo.
Although the couple did not work with The Fertility Center of Las Vegas, our fertility clinic often helps patients conceive using frozen embryos as well as donor embryos. Our team is here to explain more about the science behind conceiving with a frozen embryo.
Embryo freezing opens up a world of possibilities
In the past, the world could have never imagined that a baby could be born from a 27-year-old frozen embryo. But advances in reproductive medicine have made it possible.
To freeze embryos at our Las Vegas fertility clinic, patients must go through a cycle of in vitro fertilization (IVF). The female patient or an egg donor will first take injectable fertility medications. These drugs stimulate the production of multiple eggs. When the time is right, a fertility doctor retrieves these mature eggs. From there, embryologists in the IVF laboratory fertilize the eggs with sperm from the male partner. After fertilization, the magic of embryo freezing occurs. Using proven technology, the embryologists carefully freeze each embryo.
Some patients will decide to attempt pregnancy right away. In contrast, other patients will want to freeze all of their embryos so that they can try to conceive with them at a later date.
The baby born from a 27-year-old frozen embryo also came from a donor embryo
Sometimes, a family still has frozen embryos available after they have finished building their family. When this happens, they can donate these embryos to other hopeful parents. This option gives frozen embryos a chance at life and can make pregnancy possible for patients facing barriers to parenthood.
Our Las Vegas fertility clinic is proud to offer embryo donation to our patients. And the Gibson family’s story shows that it’s possible to build a beautiful family using donor embryos.
Contact us if you would like to learn more about embryo freezing or embryo donation. Our team is happy to help you explore all of your family-building options.