The 'twin brothers' born TEN YEARS apart: Healthy boy was born from a decade-old frozen embryo by a Chinese woman, 41, the same month his test-tube sibling turns 10
- Mother in Hubei, China, gave birth to a 7.7lb boy from embryo frozen in 2009
- Her elder son, 10, and the newborn were conceived in the same round of IVF
- A doctor said the two children were twin brothers from a medical perspective
- The woman has called her baby Tong Tong or 'same same' to celebrate his birth
A Chinese woman has delivered a healthy boy from an embryo frozen for 10 years - a decade after the birth of her elder son conceived in the same round of IVF, according to a hospital.
The mother, 41-year-old Ms Wang, went to fertility specialists for help in 2009 after trying and failing to conceive for five years.
Doctors said they cultivated 'a batch of embryos' using the same sperm and eggs. One of them was implanted into her straight away, and the rest was frozen.
A hospital handout picture shows a doctor holding the baby after he was born in Hubei on June 16. The boy was conceived in the same round of IVF as his elder brother, who is 10 years old
The boy who was born from a decade-old frozen embryo weighed 3.48 kilograms at birth
Ms Wang's elder son, nicknamed Lu Lu, was born in June, 2010, at the Hubei Maternal and Child Healthcare Hospital in central China.
Her younger son, nicknamed Tong Tong, was born on Tuesday at the same hospital.
'From a medical perspective, Lu Lu and Tong Tong are twin brothers,' said Zheng Jie, a doctor from the hospital's fertility centre.
Dr Zheng did not give more details of the twins but said the pair weighed the same at birth at 3.48 kilograms (7.7 pounds).
The boy was born via a caesarean section at the Hubei Maternal and Child Healthcare Hospital
Social media footage posted by the hospital shows the boy crying out loud after being born
Ms Wang's case was revealed by the hospital in a social media post yesterday.
According to the hospital, Ms Wang resorted to IVF after experiencing repeated miscarriages.
Dr Zheng, who treated Ms Wang in 2009, discovered that she suffered from blocked fallopian tubes and suggested that she and her husband try for IVF.
Ms Wang said that although 'test-tube babies' were uncommon in China at the time, she decided to give it a go as 'the last straw'.
After Dr Zheng and her team successfully grew several embryos from the same batch of sperm and eggs, one of them was implanted into Ms Wang in October that year.
The baby was born the following June via a caesarean section.
Ms Wang said that she and her husband decided to have another child because their son, Lu Lu, kept asking them for a younger sister or brother.
The couple, therefore, went back to the same hospital and doctor to realise the wish.
The baby and his brother were conceived via IVF using the same batch of sperm and eggs. Their parents decided to try for another baby after their firstborn kept asking for a sibling
The hospital noted they had been honest with Ms Wang about her chances of success considering her age.
Medics thawed the frozen embryos from 10 years earlier, cultivated them in the lab for further two to three days and selected the one with the 'highest quality' to implant into Ms Wang, the team said.
Ms Wang gave birth to her younger child on June 16, also via a C-section.
Social media footage posted by the hospital shows the boy crying out loud after being born.
Medics can be heard saying: 'We finally meet after 10 years.'
Since the baby shared so many similarities with their first-born, the couple gave him the nickname Tong Tong, which means 'same same' in Chinese.
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