Current:Home > MarketsABC News correspondent Rebecca Jarvis details infertility, surrogacy experience for 'GMA' -FundWay
ABC News correspondent Rebecca Jarvis details infertility, surrogacy experience for 'GMA'
View
Date:2025-04-13 07:41:35
ABC News correspondent Rebecca Jarvis is sharing her experience with infertility in an essay shared with "Good Morning America" Wednesday.
The essay comes after the "long road" of Jarvis' nearly decade-long struggle with infertility. The chief business, technology and economics correspondent and her husband, Matt Hanson, welcomed a son, Leo, via surrogate earlier this month.
"It has been a very long road for us, for fertility, for pregnancy," she wrote. "And through the journey, I've come to see how common it is and how many families are facing these challenges — the emotional and the physical toll, the costs involved, the sadness and heartbreak and the hope, too."
The journalist started trying to get pregnant with the couple's first child, 4-year-old Isabel, almost 10 years ago, which involved constant doctor's visits and appointments, tests and eight rounds of in vitro fertilization, she wrote.
In vitro fertilization, or IVF, is a treatment in which eggs and sperm are combined in a laboratory to create embryos, then transferred into a uterus, according to Yale Medicine. The treatment is often used for people with a variety of infertility causes, including blocked, damaged or missing fallopian tubes or severe sperm abnormalities.
The hardest part for Jarvis was having her experience go "unexplained," she wrote: "I know now, having gone through this, that that's the case for so many women."
Two years ago Jarvis suffered a miscarriage after undergoing another round of IVF in the hopes of having a second child.
The couple asked doctors, "What do we do? This keeps happening."
Estrogenis one of two major sex hormones in females. Here's why it matters.
"Every time I lost a pregnancy, to have that taken away was so tough," the former investment banker wrote. "I will also say, as a mom to Isabel, it was very tough for me because I wanted to be a great mom to her too. I didn't want that pain that I felt to take away from the joy that I felt with her."
Jarvis' doctor suggested surrogacy, which she wrote was difficult to hear at the time.
"It can take a very, very long time to match with a surrogate," she wrote. "And one of the things that we really talked a lot about beforehand was whether or not we could even ask another person to do something like that with their body."
Eventually, the couple found a surrogate — "our angel," Jarvis wrote — but the uncertainty remained. "(I) didn't want to feel that massive excitement and that massive joy until I really felt that it was truly a sure thing," she wrote. "But when I did allow myself to feel that way, it was truly the best feeling."
Earlier in November, the couple flew from New York City to be at their surrogate's side as she gave birth to their son.
Jarvis thanked their surrogate and her family: "I just wanted to hug her and give her all of our love that we were also pouring over Leo, because there's no way this would've been possible without her."
I'm single at 35 and want a family.This decision brought an immense amount of relief.
veryGood! (841)
Related
- Have Dry, Sensitive Skin? You Need To Add These Gentle Skincare Products to Your Routine
- James Patterson and joyful librarian Mychal Threets talk new librarians and book bans
- Noah Cyrus Likes Liam Hemsworth's Gym Selfie Amid Family Rift Rumors
- Pregnant Francesca Farago and Jesse Sullivan Confirm They’re Expecting Twins
- US appeals court rejects Nasdaq’s diversity rules for company boards
- In call with Blinken, father of killed aid worker urges tougher US stance on Israel in Gaza
- What Is Keith Urban’s Top Marriage Advice After 17 Years With Nicole Kidman? He Says…
- World War II bunkers built by German army unearthed during nature restoration project in Belgium
- B.A. Parker is learning the banjo
- 'Quiet on Set' new episode: Former 'All That' actor Shane Lyons says Brian Peck made 'passes' at him
Ranking
- In ‘Nickel Boys,’ striving for a new way to see
- Is it safe to look at a total solar eclipse? What to know about glasses, proper viewing
- Foster children deprived of benefits: How a loophole affects the most vulnerable
- MLB power rankings: Red Sox come home with best pitching staff in baseball
- Apple iOS 18.2: What to know about top features, including Genmoji, AI updates
- Larry David says he talks to Richard Lewis after comic's death: 'I feel he's watching me'
- In pivotal election year, 'SNL' should be great. It's only mid.
- More proof Tiger Woods is playing in 2024 Masters: He was practicing at Augusta
Recommendation
Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
What is the difference between a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse?
GOP lawmaker says neo-Nazi comments taken out of context in debate over paramilitary training
How Mark Estes Feels About Spotlight on Kristin Cavallari Romance
Nearly 400 USAID contract employees laid off in wake of Trump's 'stop work' order
Who won CMT Music Awards for 2024? See the full list of winners and nominees
WrestleMania 40 live results: Night 2 WWE match card, start time, how to stream and more
Why does South Carolina's Dawn Staley collect confetti? Tradition started in 2015