A second chance after loss

A Greek couple's 21-year-old son died in a road crash last October. Months later they decided to try for another child using an embryo she had frozen 22 years earlier.

“We decided to give life a second chance, to make a new start, bring new life into our home and keep our family's story going.”

Two months to beat the law

Cristina Rapti-Tzelepi, now 54, was almost past Greece's 54-year age limit for completing IVF and getting national approval. She had weeks, not years.

“I only had a 2-month window.”

Born on Wednesday in Athens

The girl arrived weighing 3.49 kilograms, 7 pounds 11 ounces. By Friday the hospital room was full of pink balloons and flowers.

22 years on ice

Two decades is an unusually long freeze for an embryo that goes on to produce a pregnancy. Last year an Ohio couple beat it, using one frozen over 30 years.

The doctor wants the law changed

Dr. Kostas Pantos, who heads the Hellenic Society of Reproductive Medicine, points to Greece's falling birth rate and calls the cutoff too rigid.

“The law is very strict: 54 plus one day is not allowed. Maybe it's time for it to change.”

A father pulled out of the dark

Constantinos Raptis, 60, held his sleeping daughter on his shoulder and credited the doctor with giving his family a reason to keep going.

“He took us by the hand and pulled us out of our deepest darkness.”

Named for her brother

They called her Georgia, after their late son Giorgos, who was also born through IVF. They haven't ruled out another child, possibly by traveling abroad.