(NewsNation Now) — The holidays and the new year are wonderful occasions to gather with family and friends. But if you’re trying to have a baby and haven’t had luck, it can be stressful too.
Sara Fraser is a popular podcast and TV host who had an unconventional journey to becoming a mom.
Sara and her 8-month-old son K.J. made an appearance on “Morning in America.”
“This is our first Christmas as parents, Fraser said of her and her husband, Dan. “It is so special and so amazing.”
“It wasn’t always like this,” Fraser said. “Two years ago, my husband and I were going through a molar pregnancy miscarriage, which is very rare.”
A molar pregnancy is one where an abnormal fertilized egg implants in the uterus. The cells that should become the placenta grow far too quickly and take over the space where the embryo would normally develop.
“Essentially what it is, is when a whole bunch of cysts grow in your placenta and your ovaries and the baby can’t live. And your baby actually gets a double set of chromosomes,” Fraser said. “It’s called a Triploidy pregnancy.”
Triploidy is a condition that affects 1% to 3% of pregnancies, according to WedMD.
“We didn’t find out until much later, 14-15 weeks,” Fraser said.
In very rare cases, the cysts can grow back. Hers did and then it hemorrhaged. Fraser was then diagnosed with a pregnancy cancer called gestational trophoblastic disease, which required 12 rounds of methotrexate shots, a chemotherapy drug.
“It was crazy,” Fraser added.
“It was a very sad Christmas for us two years ago. We didn’t know if we would ever have a healthy baby,” Fraser said.
Fraser wants women coping with infertility to stay positive this holiday, “because you never know what little miracles are in store.”
“Our dream came true, a year and a half later,” she said. “With just the help of great doctors and great medicine, and really just kind of doing a bunch of different things health-wise, you know, acupuncture and all those things.”
Fraser is open when talking about her pregnancy journey.
“It’s one of those things, right? When we’re all in middle school, it sounds like you could get pregnant just by someone sneezing on you,” she said. “Find out in your 30s it’s a little trickier than we think, right?”
As many as 50% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage, according to WedMD.
“We don’t kind of talk about how difficult it is,” she added. “We should talk about how difficult it is.”
Watch the full interview with Sara Fraser in the video player at the top of the page.
