Featured Image Credit: Supplied
Topics: US News, Parenting, World News, Science, Pregnancy, Life, Real Life, Tyla Exclusive
Madison Burgess
Topics: US News, Parenting, World News, Science, Pregnancy, Life, Real Life, Tyla Exclusive
An American couple had no clue that while they were learning their first words as toddlers, their future baby was being conceived.
Yes, really - we know it sounds impossible, but stick with it and all will be explained.
The thought of your parents 'making you' is something that, let's be honest, no one really wants to know the details of or dwell too long on.
But for this Ohio-born baby, the details of his conception and birth are exactly what make his story so special, meaning he broke a world record from the moment he was born.
Advert
The little one in question is Thaddeus Daniel Pierce, who was born in the US on July 26 to parents Lindsey, 35, and Tim Pierce, 34.
In an interview with Tyla just weeks after welcoming the new addition to their family, mum Lindsey described the whole thing as like 'something from a sci-fi' movie.
Thaddeus is actually the 'world's oldest baby' as he came from a 30-year-old embryo which was conceived all the way back in 1994.
Back then, a woman called Linda Archerd, 62, froze a small batch of her embryos and kept them in storage for three decades, with the plan to have another baby in the future.
One of them became her now-thirty-year-old daughter, who is Thaddeus' sibling.
However, when her plans and personal life changed, she decided to donate the embryos to a Christian adoption agency that matches them with hopeful parents based on a series of preferences.
Lindsey and Tim signed up to the programme after trying for a baby for seven years, and after a successful transfer in November 2024, the new mum gave birth to the record-breaking baby last month on July 26.
The story has made waves around the world, and people from across the globe have been sending well wishes to the happy family.
However, there are a few facts in this mind-blowing scientific advancement that people just cannot get their heads around - one of which being that Lindsey and Tim would have been mere toddlers when Thaddeus was conceived.
Lindsey would have been roughly three years old, while Tim would have been just four.
Opening up to Tyla about how they feel about this bizarre fact, the mother-of-one said: "I think it's great. It's kind of like he got put on reserve for us, like just got tucked away, knowing that one day he'd be our baby."
She continued: "We have a niece that's about that age right now. So sometimes we just look at her and go, we were that age when Thaddeus was made, so there are embryos being made right now, while our niece is four years old."
While Tim added: "It's just wild to think back, you have barely any memories of that time when you're that young and he was already conceived."
The wild fact is something that the couple will one day have to tell Thaddeus, once he's old enough to understand - and they've already planned how they want to do it.
He revealed: "The idea of sharing that - we want to start as young as he could even comprehend, like bring it down to a lower understanding level of how we can convey it to him when he's a toddler or when he's in preschool and telling him how he was conceived and came to our family."
The pair have already got their hands on children's books that explain the process of embryo adoption in a way that little ones can easily understand.
Tim said they plan to tell Thaddeus: "We were unable to have children, and that family had more children, and they just wanted to gift your embryo over to us."
While mum Lindsey joked: "And then we'll throw in, by the way, you were made in 1994, so you broke a record."
The family have since set up a fundraiser to pay for the medical and care expenses for his birth - you can donate here.