The age difference is 10 years
Could they be twin siblings?
In 2011, Ms. Chen of Wuhan underwent IVF fertility at the Reproductive Medicine Center of Wuhan University People's Hospital (Hubei Provincial People's Hospital), and successfully became pregnant after the first embryo transfer and gave birth to a lovely child.
In early 2021, Ms. Chen's family, who were eager for a second child, remembered the frozen embryos that were kept at the Reproductive Medicine Center 11 years ago. With the help of the hospital's expert team, the embryos that had been sleeping for 11 years were successfully "awakened", and Ms. Chen successfully conceived again and gave birth to a healthy baby before New Year's Day this year.
It is difficult to get pregnant with medical treatment everywhere, and IVF is successfully conceived once
Ms. Chen has been married for 3 years and has not been able to get pregnant. In early 2011, the couple came to the Reproductive Medicine Center of Wuhan University People's Hospital for treatment to try out IVF technology.
Professor Li Aibin's expert team arranged a detailed examination for her, formulated an individualized super-ovulation promotion program, and successfully cultivated a batch of embryos, and then transferred 2 frozen embryos into the patient's body. After 12 days of blood check HCG to indicate pregnancy, Ms. Chen successfully became pregnant after her first ivory attempt, and the whole family was overjoyed.
After becoming pregnant in October, she gave birth to a healthy and lovely boy. The remaining 5 embryos were frozen in a liquid nitrogen tank at -196 °C at the reproductive medicine center of the hospital.
Liquid nitrogen tanks – the "fertility bank" that stores life
According to reports, embryo cryopreservation is a technique that uses freezing technology to place the excess embryos formed after ovulation induction treatment in liquid nitrogen at -196 ° C, so that embryonic development is temporarily stalled at a special stage for future transfers.
Embryo cryopreservation can temporarily store the remaining frozen embryos to facilitate re-transfer, without the need for patients to go through ovulation induction and egg retrieval again, alleviating patient pain, reducing treatment costs, increasing pregnancy opportunities, and is also a form of fertility preservation.
In the past 10 years, Ms. Chen's children have grown strongly, but sometimes it is still difficult to feel lonely, and her heart longs to have a younger brother and sister to accompany her. At the beginning of 2021, Ms. Chen, who is already 36 years old, remembered the embryos she had frozen in the Wuhan University People's Hospital ten years ago, and once again ignited the idea of becoming a mother.
The resuscitation of frozen embryos is reborn, and the difference between the twin siblings is 10 years
In February last year, Ms. Chen came to the Reproductive Medicine Center of Wuhan University People's Hospital again to ask for help from Professor Li Aibin's team. According to Ms. Chen's own situation, Professor Li Aibin formulated a natural cycle transplant program for her.
Dr. Qi Qianrong, a laboratory embryologist at the Center for Reproductive Medicine, informed Ms. Chen that because her embryos are frozen for a long time, it is recommended to carry out blastocyst culture after resuscitation, which can select embryos with higher developmental potential, eliminate embryos with insufficient vitality, and improve the implantation rate of embryos.
After the thawing and recovery of her 10-year-old embryos, the expert team obtained 2 precious high-quality blastocysts after 2 days of continuous culture.
The embryologist places the "awakened" embryos in an incubator for culture
On March 12 last year, two "seeds" carrying the hope of life entered Ms. Chen's body. 12 days after the transplant, she returned to the hospital for a blood hCG test, the test results showed that Ms. Chen was successfully pregnant with her second child, and when she returned home, her son heard the news and cheered: "I finally have younger brothers and sisters!" ”
At the end of 2021, Ms. Chen, who was 38 weeks pregnant, underwent a cesarean section in the obstetrics department of Wuhan University People's Hospital, and successfully gave birth to a baby girl, and since then, she has become a happy family of four.
Professor Li Aibin introduced that although the younger sister is 10 years younger than her brother, they were egg harvested and fertilized at the same time, belonging to the same batch of embryos, but the time of birth was 10 years apart. From a medical point of view, they are twin brothers and sisters.
The three-child policy has been liberalized and the golden age of childbearing has been cherished
It is understood that with the liberalization of the comprehensive two-child and three-child policies, more and more couples have come to consult how to thaw frozen embryos.
In 2021, the Reproductive Medicine Center of Wuhan University People's Hospital woke up about 6,000 frozen embryos, a large part of which was for couples who had two children to awaken these small lives. After the three-child policy was liberalized on May 31 last year, more than 10 embryos have been transferred to the womb of mothers who are preparing to have three children.
The embryologist is preparing a Petri dish for embryo culture after thawing
With the liberalization of a series of fertility policies, the number of elderly pregnant women has also increased significantly. According to statistics, the average age of women who went to the Reproductive Medicine Center of Wuhan University People's Hospital to conceive and give birth with the help of reproductive technology 5 years ago is 27 years old. That number is 32.4 years old in 2021 and growing.
Last year, the center received more than 420 IVF fertile couples over the age of 40. Before they came to the hospital, after many years of trying to conceive, they had missed the best fertility period for their first visit. Some women do not come to IVF until they are in their 40s, and it is difficult to retrieve eggs alone.
Embryo incubator in the laboratory of the Reproductive Medicine Center of Wuhan University People's Hospital
Li Aibin reminded that under normal circumstances, if you are not pregnant for one year, you can judge it as infertility. After suffering from infertility, both husband and wife should see a fertility specialist in time, and must not delay for too long, so as not to miss the golden age of the best childbearing for women from 24 to 30 years old.
At the same time, from the perspective of eugenics and fertility, do not pursue multiple births when using assisted reproductive technology. Multiple births increase the risk of perinatal and can easily lead to miscarriage, preterm birth, birth defects and other problems.
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