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Original poster

Baby born from 27 year old frozen embryo

18 replies

ReallySpicyCurry · 02/12/2020 20:45

www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-us-canada-55164607

Has anyone else seen this?

I can't get my head around it. This little girl's mother (lady who "adopted" the embryo) was a year old when the embryo that would become her future daughter was frozen.

Unbelievable. It makes me a little dizzy to think about it. Can you imagine explaining this to people even 60 or 70 years ago?

OP posts:
wlv12 · 02/12/2020 20:49

I have two sons.

My youngest son was conceived before my eldest son as he was frozen for 5 years.

FunTimes2020 · 02/12/2020 20:58

@wlv12

I have two sons.

My youngest son was conceived before my eldest son as he was frozen for 5 years.

Wow that's amazing, and lovely. Does younger DS pull the "I'm older than you " card to his bro?! Envy
FunTimes2020 · 02/12/2020 20:59

Sorry that was meant to be a Grin

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krustybread · 02/12/2020 21:02

That's incredible. I can't quite get my head around it. Science is amazing.

Almostslimjim · 02/12/2020 21:05

On one hand I think it's wonderful that there are so many options available to those with fertility difficulties or who need/ want to start a family in a different way.

On the other, I wonder if there will be long term implications of an embryo being frozen so long?

Worriedandabitscared · 02/12/2020 21:10

It's weird to think she's technically older than me Grin super cute baby though Halo

MardyBicardi · 02/12/2020 21:11

Oh wow, what a lovely story. I don’t even know that you could adopt embryos.

TreaterAnita · 02/12/2020 21:12

It is amazing isn’t it? Science is capable of such astonishing things.

After a lot of heartache we had 1 round of IVF which resulted in 2 children, technically fraternal twins, who are now 10 and 5. It always blows my mind a bit when I sit down and think that on some level they are the same age.

Holyforkingshirtball · 02/12/2020 21:16

I have 2 children, one is 4 and the other is 1, but they are both from the same batch of IVF frozen embryos so in some ways they are actually fraternal twins conceived at the same time. Maybe that's why the eldest adores the youngest so much!

TreaterAnita · 02/12/2020 21:20

@Almostslimjim Only time will tell I suppose, since IVF has only been around for 40 years (ish) and embryo freezing less than that. But you are talking about freezing human life at its v earliest stage, and the likelihood is that if it was to go wrong (because freezing upsets the genome in some way) it would do so in pregnancy, and actually frozen embryos have a better success rate than live transfers (though this may be affected by the quality of embryos chosen for freezing).

TreaterAnita · 02/12/2020 21:20

@Holyforkingshirtball

I have 2 children, one is 4 and the other is 1, but they are both from the same batch of IVF frozen embryos so in some ways they are actually fraternal twins conceived at the same time. Maybe that's why the eldest adores the youngest so much!
Oh I saw wish that was true in my house! Wink
TreaterAnita · 02/12/2020 21:21

so

Original poster
ReallySpicyCurry · 02/12/2020 21:37

It's just incredible.

To think that that child's exact genetic makeup - everything that was going to dictate who she was going to be (apart from the nurturing part!) existed for almost 30 years before she even took a breath.

I would have thought I was a superhero or something if someone told me that as a child Grin

OP posts:
Whatnext2018 · 02/12/2020 21:38

@Holyforkingshirtball

We have our Dd (2.5 years) from a frozen embryo. We had two embryos frozen from the same cycle, the remaining one is still frozen. If it were to work next year, would that be the same thing? I can’t get my head around it! How would they be twins (I’m being thick here I know)

Holyforkingshirtball · 02/12/2020 21:50

@Whatnext2018 yep, that's our situation. 8 embryos frozen from a cycle. DD was transfer #4, DS transfer #6, just under 4 years between them.

They are 'sort of' twins because they were conceived at the same time, 2 different eggs fertilised at the same time. If that had happened inutero rather than in-petridish then they would be twins. As they were defrosted at different times they are siblings. Also slightly strange to think that they have 2 more potential siblings still in a freezer (although that is NOT going to happen - I'm done at 2)

Holyforkingshirtball · 02/12/2020 21:53

@TreaterAnita I suspect that once the youngest gets to the terrible twos and starts really stealing her toys DD will back off a bit, but then again the baby seems pretty fond of DD - her name was his first word 😍

Jobseeker19 · 02/12/2020 21:54

I would wonder though if a child born in the future from a embryo that was frozen decades before may feel that a bit of their history is missing.

If that child decides they want to find their genetic parents and then find out that they died a long time before they were even born, how would they feel?

TableFlowerss · 02/12/2020 21:58

It’s incredible when you think about it. With ivf it’s easy to think that the egg was taken from the mum and then the eggs is placed where it should be, with a little helping hand.

To think the egg was frozen though for so long, it’s absolutely astonishing.

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