Food Network star Katie Lee is pregnant after infertility struggles
Food Network star Katie Lee is pregnant following a battle with infertility.
Lee, who co-hosts "The Kitchen," announced in an Instagram post on Wednesday that she and her husband, TV producer Ryan Biegel, are expecting their first child.
Alongside a photo in which she's eating spaghetti with her pregnant stomach on display, Lee wrote that she is "eating for two."
"Baby Biegel is on the way!" she added.
Lee, 38, revealed in an Instagram post last April that she and Biegel planned to start a family immediately after their 2018 wedding, but to her surprise, they had difficulty getting pregnant. After a surgery to correct a problem, her doctor suggested that they try in vitro fertilization, but after the "intense process," she shared that they "got zero healthy embryos."
According to the Mayo Clinic, during IVF, eggs are retrieved and then mixed with sperm to create embryos. Not all eggs fertilize, and not all embryos are considered healthy.
"It is really hard to put on a happy face. Fertility issues are supposed to be private so many of us are silently in pain," she wrote at the time. "I hesitated to share this but I feel comfort when I hear others’ stories and I hope any of you in a similar situation know you are not alone. When people ask me when I’m getting pregnant, it hurts. It’s just a reminder that I’m not."
"At church on Easter, the priest started his sermon with a story about a family struggling to have a baby and the happiness they are now experiencing that their prayers have been answered. He said it is a time of new beginnings," she continued. "Tears streamed down my face. I know a family will happen for us, it is just going to be a different journey than we imagined. We will keep working towards it. Someday we will have our happy new beginning and I pray any of you experiencing the same will have yours too."