A 26-year-old woman named Tina Gibson recently gave birth to a baby girl from a donated embryo which was frozen for 24 years - the longest ever known frozen embryo.
The baby Emma Wren was born in Tennessee last month from the embryo that was frozen on October 14, 1992.
Gibson, who was born in 1991, decided to adopt a frozen embryo from the National Embryo Donation Center (NEDC) in Knoxville, Tennessee as she couldn't conceive naturally with her husband, Benjamin.
This year March, the frozen embryo was thawed and transferred to Tina in an identical procedure to IVF.
After a normal 40-week pregnancy, on November 25, Tina gave birth to Emma naturally. She was born healthy, who weighed six pounds and eight ounces and measured 20 inches long.
She is believed to be the world's oldest known frozen embryo that had a successful birth.
"Do you realize I'm only 25? This embryo and I could have been best friends," Gibson told CNN when Emma was born.
Tina Gibson, who has turned 26 now, says: "I just wanted a baby. I don't care if it's a world record or not."
Tina admitted to Daily Mail Online that she was taken aback when she found out how long the embryo had been frozen. She said: "Honestly, I was just really worried that it wouldn't work."
When Tina was asked whether she would like to do it again or not, she responded saying that she would love to but is not in a hurry.
She told Daily Mail Online: "I'm sure I'll get baby fever in a year and will want to do it."
On the other hand, Benjamin said: "Emma has siblings, there are a bunch of other embryos with her DNA…We'd love to be able to have them too."
NEDC Lab Director Carol Sommerfelt said: "It is deeply moving and highly rewarding to see that embryos frozen 24-and-a-half years ago using the old, early cryopreservation techniques of slow freezing on day one of development at the pronuclear stage can result in 100 percent survival of the embryos with a 100 percent continued proper development to the day three embryo stage."
Now the family is preparing for their first Christmas together and Benjamin says that they plan to just sit and stare at her.
They also mentioned that they would definitely share Emma's unusual story with her when she grows up.
Tina said: "It's such an amazing story. It's such a miracle. And the fact that she was frozen for 24 years, and I'm 26... It means for sure that she was meant to be ours."
