Frozen Backups.docVIP

Frozen Backups 　　An embryo frozen 18 years ago and implanted last November into a 45-yearold woman known by the pseudonym Huang Yue， from east China’s Jiangsu Province， resulted in the birth of a child on June 29. It smashed the country’s previous record of 12 years for the longest frozen embryo to result in a live birth， which was set in February. 　　The healthy baby girl， born in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of Fudan University in Shanghai， grew from an embryo that the hospital had stored in liquid nitrogen since 1998. At that time， after failing to get pregnant due to blocked Fallopian tubes， Huang decided to freeze some of her embryos， wait for a while and try again later. 　　The “while” turned out to be almost 18 years. In 2015， after a friend treated at the Shanghai hospital successfully gave birth to twins， Huang decided， albeit without high hopes， to seek further treatment. 　　Although doctors at the hospital found Huang still had the same physiological issue as before， they were able to perform surgery to prepare her for embryo implantation. 　　About 10 months following the surgery， an unfrozen embryo was placed into Huang’s womb in November 2015， and it finally grew into a baby weighing 3.3 kg at birth. 　　“It’s a miracle and a big surprise，” Huang said. “I almost gave up [hope of] being a mother in this life.” 　　 Late arrivals 　　Four months prior to Huang’s delivery， another test-tube baby was born on February 24 in Tangdu Hospital in Xi’an， capital of northwest China’s Shaanxi Province， from an embryo frozen for 12 years. 　　The 3.4-kg child’s mother， surnamed Li， also has blocked Fallopian tubes as well as polycystic ovary syndrome， a problem that can affect a woman’s fertility. In 2003， Li and her husband decided to try in vitro fertilization （IVF）， so the hospital created 12 embryos with eggs and sperms produced by Li and her husband， implanted two of the embryos into Li’s womb， and froze the seven others that were considered viable.