Nothing about IVF is easy, and the only thing you’re guaranteed is a lot of uncertainty. So when Amy Schumer—the comedian known for her fearless approach to all subjects, and who has been candid about her fertility journey in the past—told Chelsea Handler “I did it one time and I was like, ‘I’m gonna die. This is awful'” — women everywhere understood.
Schumer started undergoing IVF treatments after having her son Gene in May 2019. On Handler’s podcast Dear Chelsea, Schumer told listeners “I was sad” after her treatment wasn’t successful. “I did IVF, we made embryos and I went through the IVF process, which is so hard,” she said. “I got like 31 eggs and I was like, I’m Fertile Myrtle. I felt very hot.”
But as those familiar with the procedure understand all too well, Schumer’s optimism faded. “And then the drop off after fertilization, we only got one normal embryo and we tried and it didn’t work … and now I don’t have a uterus.” When Schumer started IVF she was just shy of 40, which put her success probability for conceiving around 27%. But, “We are freezing my eggs and figuring out what to do to give Gene a sibling.”
Already mom to 2-year old son Gene David, Schumer also opened up about how people’s sympathy for infertility can shift when the couple trying to conceive already have a child. “It’s not really something you get sympathy for because it’s like, you already have one b*tch, shut up. But you know, that’s a real struggle people go through.”
Schumer’s first pregnancy wasn’t a walk in the park (duh—it was nine months of carrying a child), either. But in addition to the typical challenges of pregnancy, she was hospitalized with hyperemesis gravidarum, a form of acute morning sickness, that lasted all the way into Schumer’s third trimester. She’s been vocal about the illness—in particular, why there is a lack of research on the condition, along with other women’s health issues—and true to form has addressed it with humor.
Before giving birth in May, Schumer posted on her Instagram “still pregnant and puking because money rarely goes to medical studies for women such as hyperemesis or endometriosis…”
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