Millions of couples worldwide suffer from “secondary infertility,” or the inability to get or stay pregnant after the birth of one or more biological children. Secondary infertility is a heart-wrenching condition—particularly when you have a child desperate for a sibling.
Erica and her husband know this heart-wrenching situation first-hand. Their six-year-old son noticed that all his friends at school had little brothers or sisters and he wanted one, too.
“He was alone and didn’t have anyone to play with, and kept asking for a brother and sister,” recalled Erica, a patient of Dr. Potter’s at HRC Fertility. “That motivated us to do everything we could. We did it mostly because of him.”
The couple had an uneventful pregnancy with their son. Erica gave birth just after her 38th birthday, and there was no reason to believe the next pregnancy would be any problem—until they started having problems getting pregnant. Then, they had problems staying pregnant. After three miscarriages, Erica had a conversation with her son.
Erica said, “My son was in the backseat while I was driving him home from school, and he asked me, ‘Mama? Did God say no?’ ‘What do you mean, sweetie,?’ I asked him. He was more specific: “Did he say I couldn’t have a little brother or sister?”