The Real Housewives of Orange County alum Jo De La Rosa is giving what she says is the most difficult update yet in her ongoing fertility journey.
“I’m sitting here figuring out how to start this video, because I always start the same: 45 and trying to get pregnant,” Jo said in a video shared via TikTok on Saturday, June 13. “But today, it just feels really heartbreaking to say it because I’m 45 and I actually cannot get pregnant and I cannot tell you how heartbreaking that is to admit.”
The reality TV star continued, “We’ve been trying to get pregnant for three years now. I have to do my makeup while I’m doing this, because I just need a little happiness in my life right now, you know? Makeup makes me happy.”
Jo, who fans first met during the 2006 premiere of the hit Bravo series as one of the OG five cast members, is married to musician Taran Gray. Jo told fans in her emotional video that the couple went to their first IVF appointment “yesterday,” adding that they each were subjected to individual testing to determine their chances of successfully getting pregnant and carrying that pregnancy to term.
“I got an ultrasound and they, like, stick a thing in you and they look to see how many eggs you have and the doctor was hoping to find at least six [in one ovary] and six [in the other],” she continued. “Even for that many eggs, it was going to be a four percent chance. So I already knew walking into this appointment that our chances were low given my age.”
She added, “But when she looked inside me, it was zero on one side and one on the other. Like, are you kidding me?”
@jodelarosaa Hardest fertility update yet 💔 #pregnancytok #pregnancytiktok #ivf #ivfjourney #infertility
♬ original sound – Jo De La Rosa
The number of eggs required to have the best chance at a successful IVF round varies depending on the gestating person’s age, per Boston IVF. For someone who is over 42 years old, upwards of 67 eggs may be necessary in order to achieve a successful result given the quality of the eggs (which diminishes over time).
“I’m just, like, I’m still in disbelief,” Jo continued, growing emotional again as she detailed how her fertility journey has undoubtedly changed. “Maybe I’ve been living in delusion that I thought I could get pregnant naturally at 45. I just feel like I’m in a bad dream that I can’t really wake up from. I should feel grateful that I can still carry a baby. I should feel grateful that we’re going to be able to, like, choose somebody to be able to give me their egg, to be able to implant it in me and it’s going to be half Taran.”
The reality star went on to reveal that the couple plan to use egg donation to try to get pregnant, allowing Jo the opportunity to carry the pregnancy to term, after her doctor said it was the “only viable option” of getting pregnant.
“I think, like, where I’m really struggling is that I just feel like my choice has been taken away,” Jo continued. “You know? Like, can a girl just get a shot to try it with her own eggs? But no, there’s one. I have one left in me. That’s just wild.”
While Jo says she is giving herself the grace to mourn what she thought her fertility journey was going to look like, she told her followers she is determined to continue to move forward.
“But, I just need a second,” she reiterated. So that’s the update. We’re just gonna keep going and stay hopeful.”
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