ATHENS(National Times)- A Greek woman has given birth from an embryo frozen over 22 years ago, months after her son born from the same treatment in 2004 died in an accident, her doctor said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor Christina Rapti-Tzelepi, today\u2019s birth carries special emotional significance,\u201d gynaecologist Konstantinos Pantos said in a Facebook post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn 2004, after an embryo transfer, she had a healthy baby boy on the first attempt. In October 2025, the family experienced the tragic loss of their son in a road traffic accident at the age of 21,\u201d Pantos said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rapti-Tzelepi is 54, the maximum allowed age in Greece for in vitro fertilisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She gave birth to a baby girl on Wednesday following the transfer in December of an embryo from the same initial batch, Pantos said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere was mourning and joy involved, but everything disappeared this morning when we held our beauty in our arms,\u201d Rapti-Tzelepi told state TV ERT.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rapti-Tzelepi\u2019s husband Konstantinos Raptis said the family were in a \u201crace against time\u201d to see the pregnancy through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy wife reached, quite literally, the very limits of the age restrictions imposed by the existing legislation,\u201d Raptis said in a statement. He called for the national IVF age limit to be lifted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOlder women have an immeasurable capacity to offer mature, conscious and unconditional love, as well as a stability that no statistic can ever fully measure,\u201d Raptis said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The couple have an additional nine embryos in storage and would like to have another child, but are currently unable to under the law, Pantos said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Greece\u2019s birth rate has been declining for years. State statistics in 2025 showed births had fallen by over 2,800 compared to a year earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the data also shows an increase in births to mothers over the age of 40 over the past 20 years. \u201cWomen must not be afraid\u2026 the science is safe\u2026 I advise couples that have been fighting for years to not give up,\u201d Rapti-Tzelepi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn a country with a serious birth rate problem, we must not deprive people of their dreams and desires.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ATHENS(National Times)- A Greek woman has given birth from an embryo frozen over 22 years ago, months after her son born from the same treatment in 2004 died in an accident, her doctor said on Wednesday. \u201cFor Christina Rapti-Tzelepi, today\u2019s birth carries special emotional significance,\u201d gynaecologist Konstantinos Pantos said in a Facebook post. \u201cIn 2004, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n