On October 31, 2022, twins Lydia and Timothy Ridgeway were born from embryos frozen 30 years prior, in April 1992. The birth is believed to represent the new record for longest-frozen embryos to result in a live birth.
"There is something mind-boggling about it," the twins' father, Philip Ridgeway, told CNN.
"In a sense, they're our oldest children, even though they're our smallest children," he added.
The Ridgeways have four other children, ages 8, 6, 3, and almost 2. This is their first birth, however, to be done via IVF or adoption.
The embryos originally belonged to a West Coast couple, who used the husband’s sperm and the eggs of a donor. CNN reported that the embryos were later donated by the couple to National Embryo Donation Center.
That decision made decades ago resulted in a miracle for the Ridgeways in 2022.
When they sought to have more children and explored their options, the pair visited the same center in Tennessee.
"We've never had in our minds a set number of children we'd like to have," Philip told CNN. "We've always thought we'll have as many as God wants to give us, and … when we heard about embryo adoption, we thought that's something we would like to do."
The five embryos were thawed on February 28, with three turning out to be viable. Philip’s wife, Rachel, decided to go for all three.
"You just showed me a picture of my three children,” she explained of the moment to CNN, adding, "I have to have them all."
Two of the embryos were successfully transferred.
The result is what scientists believe is the longest an embryo has been frozen before resulting in a birth.
The baby to previously hold this record was Molly Gibson, who born in 2020 from an embryo that was frozen almost 27 years prior.
CNN reports that Molly had actually taken the record from her older sister, Emma, who was born from an embryo that had been frozen for 24 years.
Dr. Jim Toner, a fertility specialist from Atlanta, told People that these births are possible because embryos seem to not be affected by how long they are frozen. Instead, thawed embryos miraculously pick up where they left off as if nothing has happened.
"It doesn't seem like a sperm or an egg or embryo stored in liquid nitrogen ever experiences time," Dr. Toner told the outlet. "It's like that Rip Van Winkle thing. It just wakes up 30 years later, and it never knew it was asleep."
