Katrina frozen embryo is a boy named Noah

Posted By Elizabeth Glassanos Thursday, January 18, 2007 - 11:15 AM Share

ELIZABETH GLASSANOS/FP Original

COVINGTON, La. - Sixteen months after being rescued as a frozen embryo from a hospital flooded by Hurricane Katrina, Noah Benton Markham entered the world Tuesday morning and was greeted by his cheering family.

The 8 pound, 6½-ounce boy was born by Caesarean section at 7:23 a.m. CST at St. Tammany Hospital. He was in good shape, doctors said.

Before the procedure Rebekah and Glen Markham had decided that if their baby was a boy, he would be named after the biblical builder of the Ark. A girl would have been Hannah Mae — Hannah means "God has favored us."

When Katrina slammed New Orleans, Louisiana's governor had already put into motion a plan to rescue of a number of frozen embryos being stored in a local fertility treatment center.

The embryos were carried out by a team of troopers and policemen in four large liquid nitrogen containers, each of which held many separate vials. After a long wade into the flooded building, juggling power outages and an entire city in lock down, they brought the embryos to safety. Noah's the happy result of their foresight.

Elizabeth Glassanos is an accomplished illustrator and member of the FP production team. She contributes original artwork to the blog on an ongoing basis.

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