Lifestyle

Stephanie Coker-Aderinokun, a Nigerian media personality, has recounted how she conceived her baby through In Vitro Fertilization (IVF).

IVF is an assisted reproductive technology where eggs are taken out from the female body, mixed with sperm in a lab for fertilization, and thereafter put directly into the woman’s uterus.

Coker had last year welcomed her first child with Olumide Aderinokun, her partner, in the United Kingdom.

But on Wednesday, the television presenter took to her vlog to narrate her experience with the “traumatic” procedures she underwent in a bid to conceive while in Los Angeles.

“It was crazy, very traumatic for me but it ended in praise. My husband and I did the fertility treatment called IVF. I had decided to do this procedure in Los Angeles,” she said.

“It didn’t turn out the way I thought it would. First, I was told it would take longer. I was told I was young and that they don’t like doing fresh embryo transfers, so it had to be frozen.

“I took pills and had to prepare my uterus by injecting myself in the stomach for almost three weeks while going for acting classes and doing a lot of other activities.”

According to her, the life-threatening point was when she ended up purchasing the wrong injection that left her bed-ridden for days with a fluid-filled stomach.

“I ended up doing the egg retrieval and they took out 27 eggs, a lot, unlike some people that get only two. And then I’m told that I have Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS),” she added.

“This means your ovary is just too big. I couldn’t walk or eat. I had to be aspirated, put under anesthesia every day for about ten days for them to take the fluid out of my stomach.”

“I was later injected so I can get back to Lagos for my birthday. Numerous times I was told it was life-threatening. I just wanted to give birth. People didn’t know what I was going through.”

With the disclosure, Coker joins the rank of other public figures who have similarly admitted to undergoing assisted reproductive procedures like IVF.

In 2018, Michelle Obama, former US first lady, had opened up about suffering a miscarriage. She had admitted that Malia and Sasha, her daughters, were conceived through the procedure.

Kim Kardashian West, US reality TV star, says she had feared miscarriage while she was pregnant with North West, her first child, after doctors failed to detect the foetus’ heartbeat.

Kim, who doubles as a wife to Kanye West, an American rapper, disclosed this during a deeply personal conversation with Laura Wasser, her attorney, for the All’s Fair podcast.

The 39-year-old ‘Keeping Up With the Kardashians’ star also recounted her journey to motherhood, having had four children, the last two of which were had through surrogateship.

She said she “bled heavily” while carrying North and it scared her that obstetricians couldn’t detect a heartbeat.

According to her, it was unknown that she had placenta accreta, a condition where the placenta intrudes into the wall of the uterus, and it could be potentially fatal if she carries another child.

”I thought I had a miscarriage. I was really heavily bleeding and in so much pain in Miami. I went in because you have to go in and do a [dilation and curettage] to clean out a miscarriage,” she said.

“My doctor said, ‘Come in the morning. We’ll do it Thanksgiving night so no one will see you.’ I went in and there was no heartbeat and he said, ‘You had a miscarriage.’

“Then Thanksgiving morning I came in to do it and he said, ‘There’s a heartbeat.’ I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is a sign, it’s Thanksgiving morning.’ We ended up obviously having North.”

While she had a second child before deciding on a surrogate, Kim said she can’t do more children as she’s nearly 40 and doesn’t want to be an old mom.

“I just can’t do more because I really want to go to school and I want to do all this stuff and I do believe that I could do two more, but I just don’t think I should,” she added.