Struggling to conceive, 5 friends get pregnant, successfully deliver children within months of each other
Miracles do happen. Five friends, who had a hard time conceiving, ended up getting pregnant and delivering within months of each other.
Micki Berg, Amie Thomas, Kristin Matty, Kristen Heller and Celeste Zazzali, all of whom bonded over their hurdles to start families of their own, told Mirror that the five of them miraculously conceived within months of each other and now want to help other women going through similar difficulties.
"We wanted to be at each other's baby showers, we wanted our bump pictures, we wanted to be there for each other. We would chat about our symptoms and ask for advice," Amie, 36, said. "To be able to share those feelings with four women who completely understood was amazing."
Amie, who was told by her doctor that she would require to undergo IVF after a sample showed her husband had abnormally shaped sperm, said that she met her gal pals at a fertility clinic run by the Reproductive Medicine Associates of New Jersey (RMANJ).
"It was really hard, I was really stressed," she said."People don't know the terms - like follicles and lining. It was hard even to talk to friends who weren't going through fertility problems. It is exhausting to explain it all. As soon as I walked into the room, I thought: wow, these other women have gone through hard times. I was overwhelmed with emotion but also relief."
Celeste, 37, had already her twin babies - Robin at seven weeks and Rosa at 30 weeks - when she walked into the group in October 2015.
"Just being at the group helped," she recalled. "The other people were understanding and knew what I was going through without me going into the whole backstory. As much as my friends wanted to support me, they often didn't know what to say. The other four ladies and I started a Facebook messenger chat and soon we were seeing each other all the time."
Kristen, 45, said that the support of Kristin, Amie, Micki and Celeste. meant everything to her when she was going through IVF without a partner.
"Everyone was really accepting and I didn't feel out of place at all," she said. "It was a different circumstance that brought me there. I didn't think the odds were in our favor that all five of us would have babies. My fear was that one of us wouldn't become a mother. We just hoped and prayed that it would work for all of us and by some miracle it did."
Dr. Maria Costantini, a reproductive endocrinologist and attending physician at RMANJ, said that she was not surprised the five women were still in constant contact.
"I think it is very understandable that they remained friends," she said. "Any individuals who survive traumatic experiences together are bonded. A diagnosis of infertility is traumatic in the sense that it throws your whole world upside down. No woman expects to be there. You'll never forget the pain you've gone through - and you'll never forget how important those other women are. I think it makes complete sense that these women stayed friends."