Youtube star Myka Meier pregnant after secondary infertility

Etiquette expert Myka Meier has revealed she is due to give birth to her second child next month after struggling to get pregnant

The 39-year-old said in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE magazine that IVF was a ‘rollercoaster ride’ after spending several years trying for a second child.

She conceived her first child, five-year-old Valentina, and soon realised that she wanted another child to be close in age to her, but after a year of trying she realised she needed to get some help.

She said: “I always say disappointment is the worst emotion because you want to be positive but when you do everything that you’re told, it’s really really hard when it doesn’t happen.

“It’s a very isolating feeling and it feels hopeless sometimes.”

Myka spent four years going through four rounds of IVF with multiple failed implantations.

She said: “I had a miscarriage. I had failed implants. I had embryos that were genetically tested and were not healthy enough to be implanted.”

The process became difficult the longer it went on. Myka had three different clinics and six different IVF specialist before she admitted she was at her ‘last straw’ when she didn’t find success.

But despite the setbacks and heartbreak, she said she was able push through the disappointment with the support and help of her family.

She said: “Sometimes people only talk about their struggles when they have success. But I wanted to start talking about my struggles before I conceived to show people that I was still in a dark place and then brought people along.

“It’s fun to say I’m pregnant but a lot of the time people don’t realise the years and years of literally blood, sweat and tears that goes into the process.”

Myka said she felt excitement, elation and deep joy on discovering the embryo had stuck on her latest IVF cycle, but also felt uncertain and had mixed emotions.

She said: “When I found out it stuck, I was, of course, just over the moon, thrilled, shocked, elated, but almost in this too good to be true mode.”

Myka was due to give birth by planned caesarean section on February 25.

What is secondary infertility?

There are many reasons why a couple discover they are unable to conceive or maintain a pregnancy after successfully conceiving previously.

For some couples, secondary infertility comes as a consequence of getting older. Sperm quality may no longer be the same, even though men’s biological clocks move more slowly than women’s.

As a woman ages, her egg reserve depletes and the quality of the eggs deteriorate.

Fertility is highest for women in their twenties and egg quality and quantity deteriorate after 35.

A woman who had a child in her twenties may find that after 35 she has fewer good quality eggs. When the ovarian reserve is depleted, Reproductive Endocrinologists (REs) recommend the use of donor eggs and IVF.

To find out more, click here.

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Secondary Infertility explained