Thirty years after they were frozen, the Ridgeway twins were born.
They have the record for developing from the longest frozen embryo.
The embryos were frozen in 1992.
Rachel Ridgeway is thrilled that she is three years older than her children.
The twins were born three weeks ago and are thought to have developed from the oldest known embryo.
Thirty years after their son and daughter were frozen as embryos, Philip and Rachel got pregnant.
After undergoing in-vitro fertilization, the biological parents of the infants donated their leftover embryo to the NEDC. The Christian organization only offers frozen embryo transfers to heterosexual couples who have been married for at least three years.
The NEDC was founded in 2002 in order to help people start their families.
Philip said that God gave life to the embryos when he was a child. Rachel was just 3 years old when they were conceived, which made their birth more remarkable.
The dad thought it was mind-blowing. Everyone we've talked to has a hard time wrapping their brain around it.
The Ridgeways had four children between the ages of 2 and 8.
Rachel said that they needed some fertility assistance to conceive their three oldest children.
They wanted to have a baby in 2020. They adopted a frozen embryo from the NEDC.
We decided to put the money we normally use for fertility care towards embryo adoption. We wanted to go that way.
They were surprised to find out they were pregnant with their fourth child.
They wanted to have more children. They looked at their plan a second time.
Philip said that they were driven by their faith. "We've always thought, 'Let's have as many kids as we can get,'" the 35-year-old said. If that's God's will, we are not done yet.
The couple chose their embryos from the special consideration section of the NEDC.
Parents who had a history of genetic disorders donated the embryos.
Many parents coming into the process are wondering what they could have, so these children are rarely looked at.
The mom said that they didn't care if they were considered perfect or not. They were told that the twins' biological father had died from the disease.
It's possible that it's a genetic disorder that they don't have. We didn't pay attention.
Philip told Insider that they were not concerned about the age of the embryo.
Two of them developed. Rachel gave birth to a baby girl at 38 weeks.
Timothy was 7 ounces in weight. Lydia was 5 lbs.
The twins' delivery was verified by the medical library at the University of Tennessee. The child who held the record was a girl named Molly. The embryo that became Molly had been frozen for two decades.
The Ridgeways told Insider that they didn't chose the embryos for publicity.
They will raise their twins together. Rachel said that the twins' adoption is part of their story. We want to keep it as normal as possible.
Once they were able to comprehend, the family would tell them about their origins.
Rachel said that they will always know that they are adopted. They should know that embryo adoption makes them special.
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