Dylan Dreyer has been open about her journey with secondary infertility on the “Today Show,” where she is a meteorologist, but it wasn’t always that way.
“I was hesitant to come out on the show because I was worried that there would be a backlash of people saying, ‘Well, you already have a baby. I can’t have one, so just stop,’” said Dreyer, who is 40 and is also the author of the children’s book “Misty the Cloud: A Very Stormy Day.” Yet she realized everyone deserves to have their dream family — whatever that may look like.
For Dreyer and her husband, Brian Fichera, that was more than one child, their firstborn, Calvin.
Secondary infertility
Dryer and her husband had more trouble conceiving their second child than the first time around. Her doctor diagnosed her with secondary infertility, which is the inability to carry a baby to term after previously giving birth, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Dryer’s doctor conducted a blood test to analyze anti-mullerian hormone (AMH). According to Yale Medicine, the test can give doctors an idea of a person’s ability to get pregnant by providing an estimate of the follicles in the ovaries. The higher the number of follicles, the greater number of eggs that can be released and the better the odds of getting pregnant. Dreyer’s number was low, suggesting a problem. As a result, her doctor referred her to a fertility specialist, who found that scarring from her previous C-section was the issue, Dreyer explained.
“The biggest message I can give is to make sure you find a doctor who does all the tests, who advocates for you, who listens to you, who understands your situation, and who recommends next steps based on your personal situation,” Dreyer said.
Dreyer recently had her third child, another son, who is named Russell, thanks also to her fertility doctor’s discovery.
Continuing the conversation
Dreyer has friends who have struggled to conceive with in vitro fertilization (IVF) and friends who have adopted due to fertility challenges. “I felt bad talking to them because I couldn’t relate to what they were going through,” said Dreyer, referring to her friends who chose the adoption route. At the same time, Dreyer has a friend who gave birth to two children without issue. “She was nervous to talk to me about it because she said, ‘I can’t relate to what you’re going through,’” Dreyer recalled.
She encouraged all women to try to overcome stigma and open up to each other about their fertility journeys. Same goes for men, Dreyer added, noting that the fertility tests her husband completed were similarly challenging, and he felt it was awkward to discuss the situation with his friends.
“I feel like everybody just doesn’t want to talk to each other because they don’t know what to say,” Dreyer said. “But the more you discuss it and the more you make it normal, [the more] everybody can kind of get in on the conversation, which only helps everyone in the end.”
