My twins are only three years younger than me - it’s not as weird as you think

“In a sense, they’re our oldest children, even though they’re our smallest children,” Dad Philip says. 

When parents Rachel and Philip explain the story of their twins, people often get confused. 

See, Rachel is technically only three years older than her twins, Lydia and Timothy, but they were born in October 2022. 

The Oregon couple are parents to four biological children, aged between three and nine, but they knew their parenting journey was far from over. 

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Philip and Rachel chose embryos that had been frozen for 30 years. Source: 7Life

Couple adopt 30-year-old frozen embryos

“We needed some fertility assistance to conceive our three oldest children,” Rachel told Insider, who welcomed their fourth child in 2020. 

In 2021, the couple decided to put their money from IVF towards adopting an embryo instead at the National Embryo Donation Centre (NEDC) in Texas. 

There, they opted for the “special consideration” category, which was rarely looked at by other adopting families. 

“These embryos are often overlooked because they were donated by parents who had a known history of certain genetic disorders,” Rachel said. 

“It didn't really matter to us if they're considered perfect or not.” 

The embryos were donated by an anonymous couple, who conceived the babies in 1992 via IVF and kept the remaining embryos in a chamber of liquid nitrogen at 200 degrees Fahrenheit below zero.

The age of the embryos didn’t bother the American couple, who intended to choose the embryos that “had been waiting for a family the longest,” they told 7Life. 

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Lydia and Timothy recently celebrated their first birthdays. Source: 7Life

“It didn't really matter to us if they're considered perfect or not”

Despite the biological parents’ identities remaining anonymous, Rachel and Philip were informed the biological father had died from ALS, known in Australia as Motor Neuron Disease (MND). 

“There's a possibility that it could be a genetic disorder that they may or may not have,” Rachel told Insider, but said they “didn’t care.”

After a smooth pregnancy, Rachel and Philip welcomed twins, Lydia and Timothy, weighing 2.3 and three kilos, respectively. 

The day they were born, they became the holder of the world record for the “oldest embryos to result in a live birth.” 

Rachel had no idea their age would be “record-setting,” beating the previous record held by Molly Gibson, who was born in 2020 from a 24-year-old frozen embryo. 

The babies, who are technically three years younger than Rachel and five years younger than Philip, are already making people scratch their heads. 

“It's mind-blowing to think about,” said Philip. “Pretty much everybody we've talked to has trouble wrapping their brain around it.”

“In a sense, they’re our oldest children, even though they’re our smallest children,” he told CNN. 

Today, life for Rachel, Philip and their six kids is “very busy”. Lydia and Timothy recently celebrated their first birthday and aren’t showing any signs of ALS.  

“We have easier days, followed by harder days, just like every family,” she told 7Life. 

“Lydia is our happy, smiley girl. She has a beautiful grin for nearly every person she sees. Cuddling with her mama is definitely one of her favourite things.” Timothy is a “busy boy” who learned to crawl “super fast” and “loves pushing things when he’s crawling.” 

Originally published as My twins are only three years younger than me - it’s not as weird as you think