Becoming a Parent After Infertility Struggles
- Olympic gold medalist Tara Lipinski recently welcomed her first baby, a girl named Georgie Winter, via surrogate following a five-year struggle with fertility. Now she’s looking back on how figure skating helped her push toward her goals, whether it be the sport itself or her fertility journey.
- Lipinski, 41, shared footage of her skating at the 1998 Olympics this week, as it’s been 26 years since her iconic win.
- She was previously diagnosed with endometriosis, a condition when endometrial tissue grows outside the uterus, and ultimately learned she had a reproductive immunology issue which caused her body to reject their fertilized embryo.
- Endometriosis, a painful disorder that has been associated with infertility, is a condition when endometrial tissue grows outside the uterus.
- In an earlier interview with SurvivorNet, Dr. Jaime Knopman said time was precious when dealing with fertility preservation for women with cancer or a medical condition. Basically, the sooner the better when it comes to having these important fertility conversations with your doctor.
- In some cases after cancer treatment, women may have difficulty giving birth to a child or they may be unable to at all. Having someone else carry their baby may be an option, either through surrogacy or a gestational carrier.
The 41-year-old sports commentator, who recently dealt with a five-year struggle with infertility, took to social media this week to reveal what helped her through the “hard times” with some inspirational footage, her winning performance at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
Read MoreAlongside the video clip, Lipinski wrote, “Feb 20th will always hold such a special place in my heart. This was the destination and it was beautiful to live out this dream but as cliche as it sounds the journey was the most impactful part.View this post on Instagram
“The lessons I learned then help me navigate hard times in my life now….all while remembering the childlike joy and magic that can be found in life. And it taught me to never stop believing in the dream.”
She continued, “On an old anniversary post (pasted below) while I was going through my fertility journey, I wrote about these lessons I learned.
“No one probably picked up what I was alluding to but it was all very specific to my long journey to Georgie. It makes my heart smile that as I post this today, I have Georgie in my arms. I didn’t give up on this dream either.”
Lipinski, were previously went public with her fertility journey on her self-published podcast “Tara Lipinski: Unexpecting The Podcast” after feeling “tired” of “keeping a secret,” then shared what she wrote in an earlier Olympic anniversary post.
The earlier post read, “Figure skating taught me to never give up. No matter how cliche that sounds it’s the truth. No matter how tired, how hopeless things are, how scared I might be of an obstacle I’m facing- I keep going. When I have thought I can’t keep going, I just keep going. Just like I did so many times in my career and most importantly this night so many years ago when I had never felt fear like that before.
“I truly thought I was going to faint while waiting for my music to start. I realize now all of those years of physical and mental training prepared me for that job no matter how fear wanted to interfere.”
View this post on Instagram
She concluded, “Skating has taught me that hard work pays off. Not just the big wins but the little wins as well. The little wins that no one saw when I was training and finally hit a landing just the way I wanted to. To this day I enjoy those little wins that no one sees. I push myself to keep finding the little wins on the way to bigger win.
“And most importantly I reflect back on that little girl who loved skating so much. The joy I felt that night where I forgot I was skating in front of millions of people. I remind myself often that life has all those joys and I better find them and live life with that big smile as often as I can.”
Tara Lipinski’s Journey With Surrogacy
It’s heartwarming to know that Lipinski’s hard work and determination paid off in various aspects of her life, not only figure skating, but the goal to have a child of her own.
Last year, the ice skating star spoke with People about the fertility struggle both she and her director and producer husband Todd Kapostasy have went through.
View this post on Instagram
She recalled that during her daughter’s birth, she felt very emotional while playing Dave Matthews’ “You and Me.”
Lipinski had four miscarriages, various unsuccessful attempts at in vitro fertilization transfers and two surgeries stemming from endometriosis, she previously explained on social media last August.
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She wrote, “My husband and I have seemingly hit every roadblock imaginable from the moment we began this process in 2018 and since then I have been under anesthesia 24 times, have had 4 miscarriages, 4 D&C’s, 6 failed IVF transfers, 8 retrievals and a diagnosis of endometriosis that led me to 2 major surgeries.
“It has been an excruciatingly painful journey that has been filled with loss & dealing with the grief that comes along with that.”
View this post on Instagram
In another sweet social media post, Lipinski captioned a video clip of her holding Georgie Winter, “Literally the moments that I dreamed of for so long.”
Lipinski was seen smiling while cooking dinner and holding her daughter, with football on the TV behind them.
The Olympian’s Instagram page is filled with loving images of her daughter. She also recently shared a photo of her daughter wearing a T-shirt reading “Mommy’s Little Ice Skater,” and Lipinski wrote, “Meet Georgie Winter. We are so grateful that we get to make this announcement that our baby girl is here. It feels so surreal and I’m experiencing a feeling of happiness that I have never felt before.
“This little embryo that Todd and I made together has come to life! We are so grateful and forever thankful for our surrogate. Mikayla, thank you for carrying her safely into our arms.”
Looking back on her difficult five-year surrogacy, she continued, “I can’t help but think of all those shots, surgeries, multiple retrievals to replenish all of the miscarriages and failed transfers I endured, the miscarriages that felt like they broke me more and more each time and to the times that Todd and I thought are our dream would never come true.”
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“I wish we never went through it but I’m grateful that somehow I found the strength to keep going when I thought I couldn’t because we got very lucky. Georgie, we have thought about you for half a decade. You are so loved. You are EVERYTHING,” she said, with some positive words for those dealing with fertility struggles, adding, “Ps. For anyone still in the wait, I’m sorry for what you are going through. I see you and I know the pain you are going through – I’m rooting so hard for you all.”
How to be Resilient in the Face of Adversity
Lipinski’s figure skating experience and fertility journey had an impact on strengthening her resilience in the face of adversity.
Resilience is an important trait to have in the face of adversity such as cancer or fertility struggles.
SurvivorNet spotlighted this important cancer-fighting trait in the film “Resilience,” now streaming on SurvivorNet. It follows the lives of three athletes who are living with a health challenge yet overcame adversity.
You can build resilience the way you build muscle through patience and steady exercise of the skill. Here are some lessons taken from Fischer, Runkel, and Soller:
- Be willing to learn. If one way doesn’t work, find a different way. If an obstacle lands in your way, build a path around it or over it.
- Spend time with people who inspire you.
- Allow yourself to grieve. Don’t push away or dismiss your frustration and sadness. Give yourself grace when your emotions run high.
- Be flexible. Understand there are multiple ways to accomplish a goal. If your original method does not work, find another.
- Lean into your community. Consider using your support group made up of your friends, colleagues, and family. Remember when you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed by a problem, their support can carry you.
WATCH: Resilience: Staying Positive Despite Adversity
Understanding Endometriosis
Endometriosis can be a very painful disorder. Essentially what happens is the abnormal tissue outside of your uterus thickens, breaks down and bleeds with each menstrual cycle. But because this tissue has no way to exit your body like normal endometrial tissue, it becomes trapped. This can cause cysts, irritation and scar tissue and adhesions abnormal bands of fibrous tissue that can cause pelvic tissues and organs to stick to each other to form.
This disorder has been associated with infertility, just with Tara Lipinski’s case.
The Massachusetts General Hospital states that “between 30-50% of people with endometriosis may experience infertility.
“The normal chance of getting pregnant each month for people with no endometriosis is approximately 10-20%, while people with surgically documented endometriosis have a chance of only 1-10%,” the hospital explains.
According to the National Institutes of Health, “The word endometriosis comes from the word ‘endometrium’—endo means ‘inside,’ and metrium means “uterus,” where a mother carries her baby. Healthcare providers call the tissue that lines the inside of the uterus the endometrium.”
Endometriosis usually occurs on or near reproductive organs in the pelvis or abdomen, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. Other areas is can be found in are the fallopian tubes, ligaments around the uterus (uterosacral ligaments), lining of the pelvic cavity, ovaries, outside surface of the uterus, space between the uterus and the rectum or bladder.
In rare circumstances, it can also grow on and around the bladder, cervix, intestines, rectum, stomach (abdomen), and vagina or vulva.
Fertility and Cancer Treatment
Infertility can be a side effect of endometriosis, as well as some cancer treatments, but there are options to consider. Fertility preservation, for example, is available to women of childbearing age. Options for women include:
- Egg and embryo freezing (the most common practice)
- Ovarian tissue freezing
- Ovarian suppression to prevent the eggs from maturing so that they cannot be damaged during treatment.
- Ovarian transposition, for women getting radiation to the pelvis, to move the ovaries out of the line of treatment.
How Does Chemotherapy Affect Fertility?
No matter what course of action you choose to take, it is important that all women feel comfortable talking about their options prior to cancer treatment.
In an earlier interview with SurvivorNet, Dr. Jaime Knopman said time was precious when dealing with fertility preservation for women with cancer. Basically, the sooner the better when it comes to having these important fertility conversations with your doctor.
Dr. Terri Woodard Discusses Options For Preserving Fertility After Cancer
“The sooner we start, the sooner that patient can then go on and do their treatment,” Dr. Knopman said. “A lot of the success comes down to how old you are at the time you froze and the quality of the lab in which your eggs or embryos are frozen in.”
Surrogacy and Gestational Carriers
In some cases after battling a condition like endometriosis or undergoing cancer treatment, women may have difficulty giving birth to a child or they may be unable to at all. Having someone else carry their baby may be an option, either through surrogacy or a gestational carrier.
According to the National Cancer Institute, a surrogate pregnancy is “a type of pregnancy in which a woman carries and gives birth to a baby for a person who is not able to have children.”
“In a surrogate pregnancy, eggs from the woman who will carry the baby or from an egg donor are fertilized with sperm from a sperm donor to make an embryo,” the institute explains.
“The embryo is implanted in the uterus of the surrogate mother, who carries the baby until birth. Surrogate pregnancy may be an option for men or women who want to have children and have had certain anticancer treatments, such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy, that can cause infertility.”
As for a gestational carrier, the institute describes this person as a “woman who carries and gives birth to a baby for a person who is not able to have children.”
“Eggs from an egg donor are fertilized in the laboratory with sperm from a sperm donor to make an embryo,” the institute explains. “The embryo is implanted in the uterus of the gestational surrogate, who carries the baby until birth. The gestational surrogate (or carrier) is not genetically related to the baby and is not the biological mother.”
If you or someone you know is deciding on whether or not to go the route of surrogacy or gestational carrier, it’s important to know that each state has different laws and it may be necessary to speak with an attorney before moving forward.
Questions to Ask Your Doctor
If you’re facing cancer treatment and wondering about your fertility preservation options, here are some questions you may consider asking your doctor:
- How do you expect my treatment to affect my fertility?
- Are there specialists I can talk to about my fertility preservation options?
- Is it safe for me to preserve my fertility before treatment?
- What resources are available to help me pay for fertility preservation?
- What mental health resources are available to help me cope with this?
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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