26-year-old gives birth to baby who spent 24 years as frozen embryo

A woman has delivered the longest-frozen embryo to successfully come to birth.

Tina Gibson, 26, gave birth to baby Emma Wren on November 25.

Emma was cryopreserved in 1992, waiting 24 years before being transferred to Tina's uterus early in 2017 through frozen embryo transfer.

According to NBC4, Emma was conceived just 18 months after 26-year-old Tina was born.

"Emma is such a sweet miracle," said Benjamin. "I think she looks pretty perfect to have been frozen all those years ago."

The National Embryo Donation Center's embryo programme has led to around 700 pregnancies and with Doctor Jeffrey Kennan hopeful Emma's birth will encourage others to donate to help more families.

"It is deeply moving and highly rewarding to see that embryos frozen 24.5 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-3 embryo stage." said NEDC Lab Director Carol Sommerfelt.

"I will always remember what the Gibsons said when presented with the picture of their embryos at the time of transfer - 'These embryos could have been my best friends," as Tina herself was only 25 at the time of transfer."

In New Zealand an embryo donation requires an application to the Ethics Committee on Assisted reproductive Technology.

Donors and recipients have joint counselling where they meet each other, while police checks and health tests will be conducted before going ahead with the embryo donation.