'Oldest' Baby Ever Born Is a 28-Year-Old Record-Breaker Almost as Old as Her Mother.

'Oldest' Baby Ever Born Is a 28-Year-Old Record-Breaker Almost as Old as Her Mother.

An infant born in Tennessee can lay claim to being the oldest baby born, in that she is believed to be the greatest suspended embryo ever successfully delivered at live birth.

Molly Everette Gibson was created on October 26, but her birthday was literally decades in the building. She had been born from an embryo frozen in October 1992 -- a mind-boggling 28 decades back.

And effectively a life ago, also. Molly's mother, Tina, is now 29 and was herself only born around 18 months sooner than when Molly was frozen in her embryonic form.

In the way of speaking, they have both been on this planet for about the same period of time, even though they're a generation apart.

"It is difficult to wrap your head around it," Tina Gibson told the New York Post. "But, so far as we're concerned, Molly is our little miracle."

The incredible strangeness of this story gets even stranger.

That child -- Emma Wren Gibson -- was frozen within an embryo for 24 years before being born in 2017.

Emma also happens to be Molly's older sister, meaning this solitary family's two children were both the longest-frozen embryos ever endured.

That might sound weird -- as if the Gibson family, who previously struggled with infertility for several years, were vying for a place in the Guinness World Records -- but it makes great sense when you understand the entire story.

Molly and Emma are complete genetic siblings who were frozen simultaneously after being anonymously donated by their biological parents, whose identity has not been disclosed.

To put it differently, both sisters are actual sisters -- along with being embraced sisters -- that were both carried and delivered by their adoptive mother, Tina.

It is only that it took a little longer than normal, decades in actuality, for all these patient small ones to get their time in the sun.

"I still get choked up. If you had asked me years ago if I would have not just one woman, but two, I'd have said you were crazy."

In such scenarios, rather than allowing the embryos to be discarded, the parents can donate their frozen embryos into the NEDC, which stores them for later use, working with prospective parents (most of those with infertility) apply to embrace, carry, and deliver an embryo.

The center has eased over 1,000 effective deliveries, but Emma and Molly signify the very scientifically remarkable cases, in that they are the longest-frozen embryos ever to become infants.

Beyond the novelty of the record-breaking standing, their successful births are supplying unique evidence of just how long frozen embryos can actually last, which has never been completely understood.

"As long as the embryos are maintained correctly from the liquid nitrogen storage tank at minus 396 levels, we feel they could be good indefinitely," NEDC lab director Carol Sommerfelt informed the New York Post.

"With the birth of Molly, we all know they can endure at 27 and a half a year and probably more."

About 75 percent of donated embryos survive the freezing and thawing procedure that the NEDC states and about 49 percent of transfers lead to a living birth.

Fortunately, IVF success rates with frozen embryos have captured up in recent years and are currently thought to be about as effective as remedies using fresh embryos.

For the embryos that make it to birth, a loving family awaits. For some, such as Molly and Emma -- created whole decades later than nature otherwise intended -- there is that and much more.

When moving through the process the very first time, Tina Gibson only discovered on the day of the move that the embryo she'd be getting had been frozen since about the time of her own birth.

"What does this mean?" She asked the specialist. He replied. "Well, it could be a world record."