NEW ORLEANS - Once a frozen embryo threatened by Hurricane Katrina, little Noah Markham -- named for the survivor of the biblical flood-of-all-floods -- celebrated his first birthday Wednesday.
His birth -- which attracted cameras and reporters within an hour -- is still a story his parents find themselves telling frequently.
"My neighbor proclaims it every time we go somewhere: 'Did you see this little baby on the news?'" his mother, Rebekah Markham said.
She and her husband, Glen, a New Orleans police officer, planned a small family gathering Wednesday evening to mark the anniversary of Noah's arrival, which made headlines worldwide.
While Noah's birth may have gotten attention, he's no prima donna, his mother says. His older brother, Witt, has always demanded attention. But "Noah's very happy just watching Witt, or if I give him a toy or even a spoon" to play with, she said.
The boys' embryos were among several created at the same time in 2003, using Rebekah's eggs and Glen's sperm, in a fertility lab not far from their home in Covington, across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans.
Witt's embryo was implanted immediately in Rebekah Markham's womb, and he was born in 2004. Five other embryos, including Noah's, were among about 1,400 which The Fertility Institute of New Orleans had stored at a hospital that flooded when Hurricane Katrina hit on Aug. 29, 2005.
With power out and the city sweltering in the days after the storm, authorities used flatboats for a water rescue of the canisters holding the embryos.
The one that became Noah was defrosted and implanted into his mother's womb in May 2006. He was among eight babies delivered from 59 frozen embryos implanted that year at the same clinic. Of the clinic's 1,750 frozen embryos, all but 350 were at the hospital that flooded.
Strangers often remark that the little redheads could almost be twins. That lets the Markhams explain that they are, in a way -- conceived at the same time, but born 2 1/2 years apart.
Although one defrosted at the same time as Noah's didn't survive overnight, the Markhams still have three embryos frozen. So there's likely to be a third little Markham.
"How can I not? I'm happy with two, but how can you not when you know what the possibility is?" Rebekah Markham said. "We almost lost Noah. I don't want to lose the others voluntarily."
