The world's "oldest baby" was born from a frozen embryo in 1994 in the United States.

Lindsey Pierce insists she and her husband weren't trying to "break any records," but simply wanted to "have a baby." On Saturday, Lindsey, 35, and Tim Pierce, 34, welcomed their son, Thaddeus Daniel Pierce, whose embryo had been frozen for more than 30 years, setting a new world record. "We had a difficult delivery, but we're both doing well now ," the American mother, who had been trying to conceive for more than seven years, told MIT Technology Review . "My husband and I are thrilled to have this precious baby."

This is the longest recorded time an embryo has been frozen before resulting in a successful live birth. The previous official record was held by twins born in 2022 from embryos frozen in 1992. Thaddeus Daniel Pierce was born in Ohio, USA , from an embryo belonging to Linda Archerd, 62.

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In the early 1990s, she and her husband decided to try in vitro fertilization (IVF) after having difficulty conceiving a child. In 1994, she created four embryos, one of which became her daughter, now 30. The other three were cryopreserved and stored. After her divorce, Linda Archerd obtained custody of the embryos to prevent their destruction.

Choice of couple

The American woman spent thousands of dollars a year maintaining their preservation until she discovered a Christian embryo adoption agency, "Nightlight Christian Adoptions," where donors and recipients each have a say in the allocation of embryos, reports the BBC . The curriculum chosen by Linda Archerd allowed her to select the adopting couple based on their religious, racial, and national preferences: married, white, Christian, and living in the United States. A choice that allowed her to connect with the couple in their early thirties.

"It's like something out of a science fiction movie," Lindsey Pierce told MIT Technology Review. "The first thing I noticed when Lindsey sent me his pictures was how much he looks like my baby daughter," said Linda Archerd, who insists she hasn't met young Thaddeus Daniel Pierce yet. "I pulled out my baby album and compared them, and there's no doubt they're brother and sister."

John Gordon, director of the Center for Assisted Reproductive Technology, a reproductive endocrinologist, told our colleagues that he has "certain guiding principles that stem from his faith." "Every embryo deserves a chance to live, and the only embryo that cannot give birth to a healthy baby is one that has not had the opportunity to be transferred to a patient," he commented after overseeing the process.