Alexis Stewart continuing with fertility treatment
Alexis Stewart, Martha Stewart’s 42 year old daughter, admits she continues to undergo fertility treatments even though her eggs are ‘dry and crusty.’
Alexis began treatment last year, and during an appearance on Tuesday’s Oprah Winfrey Show, acknowledged she spends $28,000 a month on the procedure. Although she suffered three failed embryo transfers, for the time being, she refuses to consider other options.
Last month, I had no eggs that were viable, so I’m sort of back to square one at the moment.
When I have to think about my other options, then I will do that. But at the moment, I can only think about this option.
Alexis, who hosts Whatever with Alexis & Jennifer on Sirius Satellite Radio, confessed to Oprah she often worries it’s too late to become a mother.
I was around 36 [when I decided I wanted a baby]…It wasn’t a good time. I forgot about it. Then about two years ago, I started to think about it again.
[We] get distracted because now we have jobs, and now we have other things to do. Medicine seems miraculous — you can do anything you want. Movie stars have babies late. It seems all possible, but you don’t hear the stories of the people who can’t have a baby.
Alexis claimed her mother wants grandchildren ‘desperately,’ often providing emotional and financial support to Alexis, who divorced husband John Cuti in 2004. Alexis said she’s ‘very lucky‘ to have Martha’s support.
She’s very supportive. She tells me it will happen all the time.
Alexis explained the procedure begins every month the day after she gets her period.
I go to the doctor and test my blood. They do an ultrasound. They look at my ovaries to make sure there are no cysts. They check the lining of my uterus, and then that night, I begin my medication.
The procedure has been difficult for Alexis. She’s forced to endure time-consuming, painful treatments, including twice-daily injections she gives herself every evening while undergoing the process.
Then, on about the 11th day, the doctor will say, ‘You’re ready. In two days we’re going to harvest your eggs.’
Twice, I’ve given myself shots on the street. I’m much more interested in taking my medication than in what anyone might think about me.
Alexis said she gets through it by looking at it as a ‘chore,’ not an optional procedure. Because of Alexis’ age, doctors implant sperm from the sperm bank directly into her eggs in a process called intracytoplasmic sperm injection.
They put the sperm in. They don’t just wait for it to fertilize. Because your egg is hard and old and crusty. It doesn’t want to make a baby.
Alexis said she doesn’t plan to stop the treatments any time soon.
I will [continue] until the doctor says, “Forget it."
Source: Oprah
