The mother and father of the “world’s oldest baby” have revealed how they plan to tell their son about his unconventional birth.
Thaddeus Daniel Pierce was born a little under a month ago on July 26, to parents Tim and Lindsey Pierce (34 and 35 respectively) from Ohio. His birth made history as he was born from an embryo that had been frozen for over three decades, breaking the world-record.
To better put that into perspective, Tim and Lindsey were only toddlers themselves when their son was conceived.
In order to get a proper grip on the circumstances that led to this phenomenon, we need to go back to 1994, when a woman named Linda Archerd (now 62) underwent IVF treatment with her husband.
They created four embryos, including the one that would eventually become their now-30-year-old daughter. The other three – which Linda dubbed her “three little hopes” – were frozen and stored away, where they remained untouched until 2024.
After splitting from her partner and reaching menopause, Linda decided to donate the embryos to a program for hard to match embryos. She had previously been turned away from several clinics refusing to take the trio because of their age.
Tim and Lindsey, meanwhile, were matched with Linda by the Open Hearts program, ran by the Nightlight Christian Adoptions agency.
“We’d been trying for children for a while after we got married, and at one point we thought it’s time to look into adoption,” Lindsey told LADbible.
“We went into different Christian adoption agencies and found Nightlight Christian Adoptions, which had a programme called Snowflakes, which is embryo adoption.
“We had never heard of this, but we thought ‘why not’? The timeline is shorter than international or domestic adoption and the price is lower, too. We’d only been in the programme for two years and we have a baby.”
Ms Pierce told MIT Technology Review her family thought “it’s like something from a sci-fi movie”.
Thaddeus’s embryo is believed to be the longest that has been frozen before resulting in a successful birth. The previous record – as per BBC – was held by a pair of twins born in 2022 from embryos frozen in 1992.
Speaking to LADbible, Lindsey and Tim revealed how they plan to tell Thaddeus about his historic birth once he’s old enough to understand.
“Snowflakes encourages open adoption and telling the child when they start to understand the process at their level, and then just increasing it as they get older,” said Lindsey.
“We’re in contact with Linda, so we want her to be part of the story, and then we will tell him he broke a record.
“We hope to meet her one day, she’s just across the country. We’ve been in contact with her since the beginning of the pregnancy. She’s loved every single update and picture about him. We want her to be a part of his life.”
Tim added: “We’ll show him some of the old articles when he’s old enough to be able to understand what the articles are saying.”
Meanwhile, the parents have a message for other parents struggling with fertility: to not give up hope even if it’s ‘not the way you think it should look’.
Lindsey shared: “For other families that are struggling to have their own children, to not give up hope. There’s always hope. It may not look like the way you think it should look, but there’s hope.”
We’re delighted for Lindsey and Tim! Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments box provided.
READ MORE
- Women share Ozempic side effect known as ‘ozempic vulva’
- Hospice nurse Googled patient’s past and “immediately felt sick to her stomach”
