A baby boy has been born in the US from an embryo frozen three decades ago, making him one of the oldest embryos ever successfully used in a birth.

Thaddeus Daniel Pierce was born on July 26 in Ohio to Lindsey and Tim Pierce. The couple adopted an embryo that had been cryopreserved since 1994 and originally belonged to Linda Archerd, now 62.

In the early 1990s, Archerd and her then-husband underwent IVF treatment, which resulted in four embryos.

One was implanted, leading to the birth of a daughter who is now 30 years old and has a 10-year-old child of her own. The remaining embryos were frozen and stored.

Archerd was given custody of the embryos during the divorce and later chose embryo “adoption”, a process in which recipients and donors decide who receives the embryos.

The Pierces’ criteria aligned with Archerd's preference for the embryo to go to a married, white, Christian couple.

“We didn’t go into it thinking we would break any records,” Lindsey told MIT Technology Review. “We just wanted to have a baby.”

Speaking about the experience, she added, “We had a rough birth, but we’re both doing well now. He is so chill. We are in awe that we have this precious baby.”

Archerd, upon seeing the baby’s photo, said: “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. I pulled out my baby book and compared them side by side, and there is no doubt that they are siblings.”

John Gordon, a Reformed Presbyterian and reproductive endocrinologist, operated the fertility clinic where the embryo transfer took place.

The clinic believes that all embryos should have a chance at life, which is why it encourages the transfer of long-frozen embryos.

“We have certain guiding principles, and they’re coming from our faith,” Gordon said. 

“Every embryo deserves a chance at life and that the only embryo that cannot result in a healthy baby is the embryo not given the opportunity to be transferred into a patient.”

The Human Fertilization and Embryo Authority (HFEA) reports that the number of IVF births globally is increasing. IVF accounted for 3.1% of births in the UK in 2023, up from 1.3% in 2000.

IVF now accounts for 11% of births among women aged 40 to 44. Approximately 2% of all births in the US involve the procedure.