12 celebrities share what it was like trying to conceive

Actress Katherine Heigl and her husband struggled to conceive, which led them to adopt their beautiful daughters, Nancy, now 9 and Adelaide, now 6. Then, in 2016, they received some exciting news—they were expecting a baby boy! During her entire pregnancy, Katherine kept fans updated, blogging on her website, Those Heavenly Days. “The whole pregnancy thing is new to me but the thrill of having a baby is not,” she wrote. “We’ve known for a while that we wanted to add to our family and frankly didn’t really care how we chose to do that. We were considering adoption again, fostering, or pregnancy if possible. Seeing as I have never been pregnant and as my OB/GYN reminded me last year, I’m of advanced maternal age, I wasn’t sure pregnancy was even in the cards for us. Turns out, it was very much in the cards!” 

Before welcoming her daughter, Luna, in April 2016, it’s no secret that the funny model and chef had struggled with infertility for quite some time with her husband, John Legend. When talking with pal Tyra Banks on her Fab Life talkshow, Chrissy opened up about their struggle with trying to start a family. “John and I were having trouble. We would have had kids five, six years ago if it had happened. But my gosh, it’s been a process.” And although she’s faced scrutiny from haters—whether it’s been about choosing a daughter for their first embryo or being mom-shamed on multiple occassions—she hasn’t let that stop her from doing what’s best for her family. The couple are now expecting their second child, a son, in June.

The diva-licious mama of six-year-old twins, Monroe and Moroccan, opened up about the process she and then-partner, Nick Cannon, went through to conceive. Following a miscarriage, she began fertility treatments to help her chances of getting pregnant. “The main thing I did that was tough was to go on progesterone like every month…and then when I was pregnant, I had to stay with the progesterone for 10 weeks,” she told Barbara Walters on 20/20 in 2011. “It minimizes the chance of miscarriage by 50 percent.” 

John Travolta and Kelly Preston have been married since 1991 and share three children together: Ella, 17, Benjamin, 7, and Jett, who would’ve been 26 this year, but passed away in 2009. They received the news that she was pregnant at 48, a year after Jett’s death, and Kelly said the news was “pretty amazing.” “We had been trying for quite a few years, and then of course there was a time when we weren’t, and then we started trying again,” she told Health magazine. “When I found out I was pregnant, I was floored. I’d snuck out of bed and then came back and woke Johnny up in bed. We both started crying. It was wonderful.” When asked if she had any reservations about having another baby at advanced maternal age, her response was simple. “I didn’t have any doubts. I love being pregnant. I love the closeness I feel when I’m carrying them. I love feeling them move inside me. My heart breaks for people who aren’t able to have kids. But I feel like there’s really hope for anyone.”

The usually private actress and her husband, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, welcomed their daughter, George Virginia, on February 16, 2018. Hilarie shared this sweet collection of photos on Instagram with a heartfelt caption to give hope to other couples trying to conceive. “There’s something I really want to say to all the women out there who are trying,” she wrote. “It took a long time for Jeffrey and I to have this baby. The first time I got pregnant, it took a year and a half. We cried. We celebrated. We picked out names. And we lost that baby. More losses followed, and as so many couples know, it was heartbreaking. It still is heartbreaking…So when this pregnancy started, we were cautious. I didn’t want to celebrate for fear of jinxing it…So now that folks know she’s here…my wish is that she would restore hope for others. Fertility is a fickle thing. And for the other couples out there who have had dark days, we want to introduce our miracle baby to you and send you our love and support in finding yours.” The couple are also parents to eight-year-old Augustus.

The actress and proud mama of three had quite the surprise when she found out she was pregnant with her son, Grey. In August 2016, she and husband, Scott Stuber, announced their third baby was on the way with this Instagram photo, captioned, “Ummm…so this happened!!! Baby Stuber #3 is on its way!”. In an exclusive interview with People, Molly spoke about their excitement over the surprise pregnancy. “It’s a Hail Mary! I’m so happy—we’re so blessed. We were so shocked, but we’re thrilled.” She added, “Being 43 is a little worrisome, cause I’m like ‘Okay, you are going to be 90!’ But then Mick Jagger [is] so we’re like okay, we feel good about ourselves.” The happy couple are also parents to son Brooks, 5, and daughter Scarlett, 3.

“It turned out to be tougher to get pregnant than I thought it would be,” the then-40-year-old actress said back in 2008 about trying to conceive her second child. “I tried for a long time, and it just didn’t happen, to the point where getting pregnant became the greatest wish—and the greatest challenge—of my life. My fate wasn’t to jump into the backseat of a car and have a baby. My boyfriend (Matthew Carnahan) and I were on our last big try, and if the baby hadn’t come, we would have adopted. But then I did get pregnant—in 2003.” Helen and Matthew have two children together—a son, Emmett (born in 1998), and a daughter, Makena Lei.

“For all the struggling women & moms out there that think they are alone—this is the truth about conceiving my son and struggles after,” wrote the actress in an Instagram post that she later took down. “8 yrs of pain and undiagnosed PCOS & Endometriosis, 5 miscarriages, 5 rounds of IVF, 26 IUI’s, most with no outcome, 4½ years of trying to conceive, 26 hours of brutal labor, early delivery b/c of sudden preeclampsia, tearing and tearing after the stitches were in once I was home, milk supply issues, painful mastitis, uncontrollable crying while breast feeding, worked until the day before I [gave] birth and went back after 6 weeks after because I was afraid of letting others down.” Jaime King and her husband of 11 years, Kyle Newman, share two sons together—James Knight, 4, and Leo Thames, 2.

In an interview with C Magazine, Kim opened up about her and Kanye West’s struggles with trying to conceive their son, Saint (who is now two years old). “They say if you’ve been trying [to] for a year, then you usually need a little bit of help. I had a tough delivery [with], so I understand what my challenges are,” she explained. “I mean, I’m seeing the best doctors and I’m trying to do everything I can to make that happen. They have recommended to me to get a surrogate, and I would like to hold out a little bit longer, and still try. I still have hope, so I’m just going to keep on trying. Never say never. I mean, we haven’t talked about adopting…” She went on to conceive and carry Saint, but also experienced a dangerously difficult labour and delivery. This led to the couple welcoming their third child, Chicago, via surrogate earlier this year.

The America’s Next Top Model star had struggled with infertility before she and partner, Erik Asla, welcomed their son, York, via surrogate in January 2016. “When I turned 40, the one thing I was not happy about [was] that I did not have kids,” Tyra told People. “I’m like, ‘Damn, the clock is ticking!’…When you’re like, ‘OK, I’m just going to do it,’ then it’s not so easy as you get older…I’ve had some not happy moments with that, very traumatic moments. It’s difficult as you get older. It’s not something that can just happen.” 

The hilarious actress and husband, Jeff Richmond, have two daughters together—Alice, 12, and Penelope, 6. The reason for the age gap? They wanted to make sure they were ready and had felt that part of their family was missing before welcoming Penelope. “My husband and I really decided that we felt rather than risk having 30 Rock end in several years and feeling like part of our family is missing that we were going to prioritize our family.” And so they did, welcoming a healthy baby girl in August 2011.

Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green were married in 2010 and have three sons together—Noah, 5, Bodhi, 4, and Journey, 1.5. Apparently, having her sons so close together in age was a bit of a shock to Megan—rumour has it that all three pregnancies were unplanned. “I felt like [becoming] was always a big part of my path, but I never knew I was going to have three in such rapid succession,” she said.

Read more: 14 celebrities who have struggled with infertility 18 celebrities who welcomed kids via surrogates All the cute celebrity babies born in 2018