Don’t they grow up fast?
Well, actually… in this case not so much.
China is celebrating the birth of the country’s longest preserved test tube baby, who was fertilised more than 12 years ago.
He was born on Wednesday in Tangdu Hospital, Shaanxi Province after surviving as a frozen embryo for more than a decade.
It’s not a sinister experiment, but a success story that could give hope to women across the country struggling with fertility problems.
China Daily reported a 40-year-old woman who suffered from polycystic ovary syndrome as well as blocked fallopian tubes had her embryos frozen when she first started trying to get pregnant through IVF in 2003.
Thirteen years later, after the relaxation of the country’s one child policy, she gave birth to her second son (pictured) weighing 7lb 6oz.
When she first began fertility treatment, doctors harvested 12 of her eggs which they fertilised with her husband’s sperm.
They implanted two of them straightaway, and nine months later she gave birth to a healthy baby boy.
Then they froze the rest which were judged to be viable and the woman paid to store them at a hospital in case she was able to have another child later on.
Out of seven frozen embryos, three survived being thawed – and one of those was the healthy baby boy born this week.
Congratulations!