It’s estimated that there are over 1.5 million frozen embryos in the United States, but only a fraction of those that go unused are donated to other couples in need. Now, according to the MIT Technology Review, an Ohio couple has made medical history by giving birth to a baby boy who was developed from a 30-year-old embryo.
New parents Lindsey and Tim Pierce “adopted” the embryo from 62-year-old Linda Archerd, who underwent IVF in the early 90s with her then-husband. Their fertility journey resulted in the birth of a daughter, now 30, but Archerd still had three embryos left. When she and her husband divorced, she was awarded custody of the embryos and continued to pay the annual fee for their storage. But as she approached menopause, she felt conflicted about what to do next.
Wanting to be able to meet the eventual child that would be born, she decided against anonymous donation and discovered embryo “adoption.” In this system, primarily run by Christian organizations, donors have a say in where their embryo is placed. However, since they were created in 1994, there was concern about taking embryos that were so old, due to doubts about their ability to survive and successfully implant.
Eventually, Archerd found the Snowflakes program run by Nightlight Christian Adoptions agency, which was willing to take her embryos. At the same time, the Pierces, who were seven years into their fertility journey, also joined the program. Eventually, they were matched with Archerd.
“We thought it was wild,” says Lindsey. “We didn’t know they froze embryos that long ago.”
As implanting a 30-year-old embryo can be a complex process depending on how it was stored, the Pierces registered with a Tennessee IVF clinic that specializes in this procedure. Run by reproductive endocrinologist Dr. John Gordon, the clinic works on principles to try and reduce the number of embryos that end up in storage.
Of Archerd’s three frozen embryos, two were still viable and transferred into Lindsay. One was successfully implanted, resulting in Thaddeus Daniel Pierce, a healthy baby boy who was born on July 26, 2025. Now, he holds the record as the “oldest baby,” with his embryo having been created when his parents were just toddlers.
While Acherd has not yet met Thaddeus, the Pierces have sent her photos. “The first thing that I noticed when Lindsey sent me his pictures is how much he looks like my daughter when she was a baby,” she says. “I pulled out my baby book and compared them side by side, and there is no doubt that they are siblings.”
And while the world record is interesting, for the Pierces it’s certainly secondary. “We just wanted to have a baby.”
Source: Exclusive: A record-breaking baby has been born from an embryo that’s over 30 years old
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