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This historic birth breaks the previous record held by twins born in 2022, who were conceived from embryos frozen for 30 years
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Ohio, USA – A baby born just last week is making headlines as the world's 'oldest baby' — having been created from an embryo frozen more than 30 years ago. Thaddeus, born on July 26, is just five days old, but the embryo from which he came was frozen in May 1994. His parents, Lindsey (35) and Tim Pierce (34), from Ohio, adopted the embryo after struggling with infertility for nearly eight years.
The embryo was one of four created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) by Linda Archerd, now 62, and her husband, who, like the Pierces, had difficulty conceiving naturally. One of those embryos resulted in the birth of their daughter — now 30 years old — while the remaining three were cryopreserved in case the couple wanted more children. “I called them my three little hopes. I always wanted another baby desperately,” said Ms. Archerd.
Thaddeus, was born on July 26, 2025
Following her divorce, Ms. Archerd was awarded custody of the embryos and later decided to place them for adoption. Because the embryos had been frozen for so long, they were categorized as "hard to place" and entered into Snowflake's Open Hearts Programme, which helps find families willing to adopt embryos with a lower likelihood of implantation success.
Years later, the Pierces signed up for the program. One of Ms. Archerd's embryos was successfully implanted, and after a challenging birth, Thaddeus arrived.
“We are in awe that we have this precious baby,” said Mrs. Pierce in an interview with MIT Technology Review. “We had a rough birth, but we’re both doing well now. We didn’t go into it thinking we would break any records — we just wanted to have a baby.”
Ms. Archerd described the experience as "surreal", adding, “It’s hard to even believe.”
The IVF procedure was carried out by Rejoice Fertility under the care of Dr. John Gordon, a reformed Presbyterian who is committed to giving unused embryos a chance at life. “Every embryo deserves a chance at life. The only embryo that cannot result in a healthy baby is the embryo not given the opportunity to be transferred into a patient,” Dr. Gordon explained.
This historic birth breaks the previous record held by twins born in 2022, who were conceived from embryos frozen for 30 years.
The first successful IVF birth was in 1978, when Louise Brown was born, marking the beginning of a revolutionary era in reproductive medicine. Since then, millions of babies have been born through IVF — and now, with cases like Thaddeus’s, it’s clear that science continues to stretch the boundaries of possibility.
Source: Daily Mail
Read Original Story here: World's 'oldest baby' born from embryo frozen in 1994
