A set of twins who were born from embryos frozen 30 years ago have just celebrated their first birthday.
Timothy and Lydia Ridgeway were born October 31, 2022 to their adoptive parents who were just three and five years old when the babies’ embryos were frozen in 1992.
The embryos of the brother and sister were adopted by a couple in Vancouver, Washington after their biological parents – who want to remain anonymous – donated their embryos to the National Embryo Donation Center (NEDC).
The adoptive parents used IVF to conceive the twins in 2022.
What is IVF?
IVF is one of several fertility treatments available to conceive a baby. During the process, an egg is removed from the ovaries and fertilized with sperm in a lab.
This embryo is then implanted into the woman’s uterus to grow and develop.
Their birth broke records
With their embryos frozen in April 1992, the twins have earned the title of oldest embryo used in a successful pregnancy from the Guinness World Records.
Prior to the twins, the record holder was Molly Gibson, born in 2020 from an embryo that had been frozen for almost 27 years.
Their adoptive journey
The babies’ biological parents stored their embryos at a fertility lab for 15 years before gifting them to the donation center, a facility in Knoxville, Tennessee, that only allows heterosexual couples who have been married for at least three years to adopt embryos.
Their adoptive mother and father, Rachel and Philip Ridgeway, were just three and five years old, respectively, when their children’s embryos were frozen.
Mr Ridgeway, 36, told Insider shortly after the twins’ birth: It’s mind-blowing to think about. Pretty much everybody we’ve talked to has trouble wrapping their brain around it.’
Prior to their adoption journey, the Ridgeways already had four children between the ages of two and eight, but wanted to continue to expand their family.
