A couple from London, Ohio, USA, welcomed a unique baby last month—Thaddeus Daniel Pierce—born from an embryo that had been frozen for over 31 years, setting a new world record.
Thaddeus was born on July 26 to Lindsay and Tim Pierce after spending 31 years and 56 days as a frozen embryo. In 2022, the Pierces “adopted” the embryo, originally created in 1994 by a woman named Linda Archerd, and successfully brought it to term through a series of in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments.
“We didn’t expect to break any records; we just wanted to have a baby,” said Lindsey Pierce in an interview with MIT Technology Review. Despite a difficult birth, both mother and baby are now healthy, with Lindsey describing Thaddeus as a calm and precious child.
This birth surpassed the previous record held by the Ridgeway twins, born in October 2022 after spending 30 years and 192 days frozen.
Nearly three decades earlier, Linda Archerd and her then-husband underwent IVF after six years of trying to conceive. By May 1994, they had four embryos, one of which was successfully implanted resulting in a healthy daughter. The remaining embryos were frozen and stored.
Now 62, Linda watched her daughter grow into a woman in her 30s with a 10-year-old daughter. She called the frozen embryos her “three little hopes,” as she had always hoped to have more children.
Thaddeus’s birth marks a milestone in IVF history, highlighting advances in fertility treatments and embryo preservation.
