Maria Menounos' IVF realization: "I have kids in a freezer"

by

Sara McGinnis

posted in Celebrities

Maria Menounos' journey to pregnancy is turning out to be much more difficult than she'd expected. The 38-year-old, who is now engaged to longtime beau Keven Undergaro has opened up to Health about infertility, IVF and more.

A quick look at some of what she shared with the magazine...

Maria Menounos on learning of her infertility problems:

"...When I did [IVF] the first time, my body was so suppressed from the birth control pill they give you that nothing was happening halfway through the injections. There were no follicles. So we decided to stop seven days in, and my doctor ran a test and said to me, 'I have really bad news: You're not able to have kids.' I was like, 'What?!'

"I didn't really pay attention to it at first. But the next day, I started thinking about it, and I got really sad. But I thought, 'This isn't my body. What is happening here?' So I went and did acupuncture for a few months, and I started feeling stuff [points to her pelvic area], and it was weird. So I called up the doctor and said, 'Can I come in?' I went in, and of course, there were tons of follicles, and everything was fine. Previously my body had been too suppressed; at that time, I was going through a lot, and I could not deal with going through IVF, and it just wasn't going to work."

Where she is in the IVF process:

"Last November, I had three embryos made, and we put them in the freezer. Then we did inseminations—IUI—because I was like, 'Listen, I think we could probably have done this naturally, but what was happening before is that the ovulation kits weren't working for me.' Last month, I did another egg retrieval, and I got two eggs—so we tested all five embryos.

"Afterward, I had the craziest conversation with my doctor I ever thought I'd have in my life. She said, 'OK, so here's the news: We tested the five embryos. Two were bad quality, one was fair quality, and two were good quality.' She told me the sex of these children, so now I'm realizing I have kids in a freezer. It makes it real when you know the sex. I was like, 'What is happening?!' So I called my mom and said, 'Mom, you're a grandma! Here's what we've got in the freezer—don't tell anybody. Isn't this weird?' It was the strangest call ever.

"Then I realized I have to do another IVF round because if I want two kids, the two good-quality ones could only end up yielding one baby, and I keep hearing stories about all these women who keep implanting embryos and they don't take. I was so upset about the idea of another round, because it's exhausting, physically and mentally."

On if she's felt jealous seeing pregnant women or families with babies:

"No, because I was never really focused on kids. I used to just see dogs. I never saw humans, but now I see kids everywhere, and I get so excited. I'm like, 'Oh my God, I looove Kelly Clarkson's daughter, River Rose. I just wanna squeeze her!' I'm so giddy about them."

Maria Menounos and Keven, who have been together for 19 years, are putting their wedding on the back burner as they try and start their family. She explained they're "trying to figure out the kid thing first because that's the most time-pressing—and the most important."

Unfortunately, Maria shared a photo of a negative pregnancy test just two weeks ago, with the message, "Wow, I'm shocked. Not!"

I really can't imagine the mind bend Maria is going through, and her comment about having "kids in a freezer" really through me for a loop. How weird to think of it that way, and how tragic to think of them as kids and then have an embryo transfer not work out. It sounds like she and Keven even know the sex(es) of the baby/babies they just lost.

My heart goes out to Maria and anyone else going through this roller coaster of a journey, and my fingers are crossed she and everyone else looking to have a baby soon finds a bundle of joy in their arms.

Photos: PR Photos

 

More celebrities who've turned to IVF: