A Christian woman in the United States has given birth to a baby using an embryo which was frozen 31 years ago. 

Lindsey Pierce used a Christian embryo agency to ‘adopt’ the embryo from the biological mother, Linda Archerd, who is also a Christian.

While going through IVF treatment in 1994, Linda stored four of her embryos. One of those is now a 30 year old woman with her own 10 year old daughter – they are now the new baby’s biological sister and niece. But Linda’s circumstances changed and years later, she decided to opt for embryo adoption, which allowed her to have a say in the future parents - with the process overseen by Nightline Christian Adoptions.

The embryos were placed with Lindsey and Tim Pierce who fitted Linda’s criteria of a married, Caucasian Christian couple – and Thaddeus Daniel Pierce was born on 26 June.

Lindsey Pierce told MIT Technology Review: "He is so chill. We are in awe that we have this precious baby."

Linda, who is now 62, told the same publication that he resembles his big sister:

"The first thing that I noticed when Lindsey sent me his pictures is how much he looks like my daughter when she was a baby."

The process was overseen by John Gordon, a Christian doctor who set up the Rejoice Fertility Clinic to reduce the number of embryos held in storage.

Thaddeus is believed to be the world’s oldest baby – other babies have previously been born from 27 and 30 year old embryos.