The age gap between mother and her baby typically have a big time frame. Normally, a woman gives birth to child when she is between the ages of 20 and 35. But, in a huge surprise, the age gap between a woman from Tennessee and child is only 18 months. Many eyes would be left wide open after reading this. But, this happened in reality. The baby’s embryo was actually frozen for a big period of 24 years.
If we go by record, the youngest ever mom witnessed in human history was Lina Medina. She gave birth to a baby girl in the year 1939 when she was only 5 years and seven months old. The girl hit the puberty early and that’s why she was able to conceive the child. Though she gave birth to a child, she never revealed who was the father of the child. We also have the picture of Lina showing her after giving birth to a child.
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In this case, the couple 26-year-old Tina Gibson and her 33-year-old husband, Benjamin, were struggling to conceive a child naturally. They were finding it difficult to conceive as Benjamin was suffering from Cystic Fibrosis. Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic disorder which affects a person’s lungs and can cause infertility.
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The couple was very disappointed as they could not conceive a child. They once decided to adopt a child. But, Tina’s father suggested them to go embryo adoption. The process of embryo adoption involves implantation of an already fertilized egg into a woman’s uterus. They decided that they are going for embryo adoption. They understood all the application process and started the formalities for embryo adoption.
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“I just came home one day, I looked at Benjamin, and I said, I think we need to submit an application for embryo adoption. On a whim, we filled out an application and submitted that night,” Tina said in an interview. People who go for embryo adoption have the luxury to choose from countless options. They can choose them on the basis of child’s features like their race, height and the educational background of donor parents.
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The couple enthusiastically selected an embryo but they were denied as it was not viable. Then, they were given second chance to select an embryo. As the parents of frozen embryos are denied any information regarding the time since when the embryo has been kept in frozen state, the couple had no knowledge that the embryo was kept frozen since October 14, 1992. When they came to know about this, they found that the child was conceived just 18 months after Tina’s birth.
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Tina was successfully impregnated at The National Embryo Donation Center after the embryo was defrosted in March this year. Tina finally gave birth to the baby girl named Emma Wren Gibson, on November 25, 2017. The baby created a world record for being in the state of frozen embryo for 24 years and finally been successful in taking birth.
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The National Embryo Donation Center operates under Christian principles. They only allow heterosexual couple with a marriage of more than 3 years to adopt their frozen embryos. The center is faith-based organization which believes that life starts at conception.
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“If the baby was born when it was supposed to born, we could have been best friends. We’re just so thankful and blessed. She’s a precious Christmas gift from the lord. We’re just so grateful. I just wanted a baby. I don’t care if it’s a world record or not,” said an ecstatic Tina. “Emma is such a sweet miracle. I think she looks pretty perfect to have been frozen all those years ago,” Benjamin said.
The world record was confirmed by the University of Tennessee Preston Medical Library. It informed that the longest-frozen embryo to result in a birth was 20 years old earlier.
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“We had our medical library, which is very good at finding things, look to see if they could find anything older than that and they could not. But it is kind of neat that this embryo was conceived just a year or so before the mother was,” said Dr. Jeffery Keenan from The National Embryo Donation Center.
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