As someone who spent two full years trying to conceive a third child via in vitro fertilization (IVF), I’ll be the first person to admit that I never thought secondary infertility would happen to me. I conceived my 5-year-old twins during my second frozen embryo transfer cycle, with 9 embryos left in the freezer. Since IVF had worked for us before, I didn’t think we would have unexpected challenges when we started trying for another baby. I couldn’t have been more wrong.    Something else I was wrong about…that secondary infertility couldn’t be nearly as...

Getting pregnant with our son was easy, so we thought number two would be a piece of cake. But this time, we weren’t as lucky. Secondary infertility leaves many couples with unanswered questions and no reason why it’s not working for them now.  What is secondary infertility? Couples experience secondary infertility when they cannot get pregnant or carry a baby to term after being pregnant or have no issues with their previous pregnancy.  “Secondary infertility is quite common,” says OB/GYN Dr. Staci Tanouye. It affects 8-12% of couples across the globe, which is about 4...

Infertility isn’t limited to a person’s first pregnancy. About 14% of individuals struggle with getting pregnant or bringing a pregnancy to full term after already having had one pregnancy or birth, according to the CDC.  For couples who have a more difficult time trying to get pregnant the second time around, secondary infertility carries some equally difficult — but different — emotions to primary infertility (infertility associated with a first-time pregnancy). The Emotional Toll of Secondary Infertility  Feelings like guilt and loneliness can make the struggle to have another baby its own sort of challenge....

  Secondary infertility is something a couple never expects to be googling when trying to conceive after an easy prior conception and pregnancy. I certainly never thought that secondary infertility would happen to me, but it was and will always be a part of our family’s story.  In 2019, my daughter had just turned one and we started to try to conceive our second child. Since my daughter had been conceived easily and I had a relatively uneventful pregnancy with her, we fully expected that everything would happen just the same as it did before....

  I never thought I would deal with infertility. My earliest memories are of me playing with my dolls and dreaming of the day when I would become a mother. In 2009, my dream of becoming a mom was realized, but what followed was more of a nightmare. On November 4, I gave birth to my oldest daughter and only biological child. I went into my birth believing that simply hiring a midwife and watching a few documentaries was enough to prepare for childbirth, but I quickly found out that I was mistaken.  After spending 11 hours...

  Secondary infertility is a condition that occurs when an individual is unable to become pregnant or carry a child after previously giving birth. It can be extremely stressful and may place strain on partners, especially when the cause is unknown and there has been a lack of success despite prolonged attempts at conception.  According to the Center for Disease Control, 11% of couples who already have a child go on to experience secondary infertility. That’s approximately 4 million families or about half of all infertility cases. Yes, you read that right, half of all...

  Infertility doesn't happen to me - it happens to other people. I conceived my first child naturally within five months. Infertility isn't something I have to worry about, right? But then I found out about secondary infertility. You see, infertility can impact anyone, at any time. And as I have learned, just because I got pregnant naturally once doesn't mean I would be able to do it again. The thing about secondary infertility is that it comes with a weird sense of guilt.  You tell yourself, "I already have a child. I am one...

I never thought I would be someone who had to go through IVF. Real talk, and I’m not proud of this: for years, I thought IVF was something emotionally unstable Octo-moms chose to do when they wanted to have a litter of babies. They’d pop out eight kids, go on Oprah, be gifted a minivan, a year’s supply of diapers, and a trip to Disneyland and call it a day. Shit, was I wrong. Vince and I were high school sweethearts who—after going to two different colleges, where we dated as many people as we...

  Negative. My pregnancy test was negative. My first IVF cycle didn’t work. I have a beautiful three-year-old daughter. We got pregnant naturally so quickly with her that I took my fertility for granted. Being a primary care physician, I quickly figured IVF was in the near future after struggling to conceive our second child for over a year: secondary infertility. Even with my medical training, I could not have prepared for the emotional and time commitments of IVF. From the start of the IVF process, I confidently started the myriad of oral, vaginal, and...