Twins born from 30-year-old frozen embryos have a mom that's only 3 years older than them

A pair of twins have been born from 30-year-old frozen embryos, with their mom being only three years older than them.

Mom-of-six, Rachel Ridgeway, gave birth to the twins who were originally frozen in a lab way back when in April 1992.

The two new bundles of joy are now believed to hold the record for the longest-frozen embryos known to have resulted in a live birth.

The previous holder was a little girl born in 2017 named Molly Gibson, who was stored for 24 years.

If that all sounds a bit baffling to you then don't worry, as Rachel and her husband Philip explained the bizarre situation.

CNN

The pair got pregnant a whole three decades after the embryos were first frozen at the National Embryo Donation Center.

The twins' biological parents, who have remained anonymous, donated their leftover embryos to the centre after going through a round of in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Stored them in liquid nitrogen with thousands of other embryos - the two successful embryos have finally resulted in a live birth.

Rachel, now 34, gave birth to Timothy, who weighed in at six pounds and seven ounces, and Lydia, who was just five pounds and 11 ounces, last year (31 October) at 37 weeks and two days.

"I was five years old when God gave life to these embryos," Philip told Insider last year.

CNN

The father described the whole situation as a 'mind-blowing' thing to think about, adding: "Pretty much everybody we've talked to has trouble wrapping their brain around it."

The couple welcomed their fourth child back in 2020 and shortly after decided to adopt a frozen embryo to conceive another child.

Rachel explained: "We needed some fertility assistance to conceive our three oldest children.

"We decided to put the money that we would normally use for fertility care towards embryo adoption.

"We wanted to follow that route."

Philip then said that they would have more children if that was 'God's will'.

The 35-year-old explained: "We've always thought, 'Let's have as many kids that God wants to give us.'"

"We thought, 'We're not done yet if that's God's will.'"

CNN

The process started in December 2021 when Rachel and Philip selected their frozen embryos from the 'special consideration' part of the lab.

"These embryos are often overlooked because they were donated by parents who had a known history of certain genetic disorders," Rachel said.

She added: "We found out that these kids are rarely looked at because many parents coming into the process are wondering what they could have.

"It didn't really matter to us if they're considered perfect or not."

CNN

While the parents knew that the twins' biological father had passed from ALS and could possibly lead to the babies having a genetic disorder, they said that they 'didn't care'.

The couple have since decided to be totally honest about the whole process to the twins.

"Our plans for the twins is to make sure their adoption is a part of their story," Rachel said. "We want to keep it as a normal part of their lives."

She added: "They'll always know that they are adopted.

"We want to make sure that they know that embryo adoption makes them special."

Topics: Life, Parenting, Science, Weird

Rhiannon Ingle

Rhiannon Ingle is a Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from the University of Manchester in 2021 in English Literature. Alongside her studies, she was the Lifestyle Editor of The Mancunian, the largest student newspaper in the United Kingdom. Her favourite topics to write about include sex and relationships, bizarre lifestyle trends and all things travel.