In the days since first chronicling her IVF journey and sharing with fans the process in working to conceive a second child with her husband, HGTV home designer and renovator, Mina Starsiak Hawk is now trying to keep a positive attitude after learning that the starting round of her in vitro fertilization has failed. In a collection of videos shared to her Instagram Stories on Dec. 11, the Good Bones star revealed that the one and only embryo she had “did not get bigger” following initial cell division.
Sharing details into the setback, the mother-of-one revealed while sitting in her car on the way up north for shooting their renovation series that the first round didn’t go as planned. “It’s no good, so we’re not putting it in and I just have to go meet with [the doctor] to see what next steps are. So first round did not work,” she said while wiping a tear away.
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The hopeful Indianapolis native and soon-to-be second-time mother added in a follow-up clip that she was “trying to look at the bright side” of the situation, sharing she was happy to be returning to her workouts at OrangeTheory Fitness downtown. “I can go back to OTF, which I have been missing a lot because if I don’t work out I am a crazy person and I’m also jam-packed with hormones, so that makes it super fun,” she quipped while lying down on the couch.
Though she is looking forward to the future and going full steam ahead into the next round with her husband, Stephen Hawk once they are ready, Starsiak Hawk posted a photo of her 16-month-old son, Jack and admitted that despite her realistic expectations over the process and the infinite love she has for her baby boy, the news has hit her a “bit harder [than] anticipated.”
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“My husband sent me this picture while I was working, doing demo on a property right after I got the call this morning that my one and only embryo was no good; that there would be no transfer. I honestly [hadn’t] had much hope in our one embryo jumping perfectly through all the hurdles that exist [between] it fertilizing and an actual baby being born,” the 35-year-old wrote. “But I have it easy in the world of infertility struggles. I have this man. He is my light every single day. And no, that doesn’t negate my current struggle and the emotions that come along with it. But I think it’s important to recognize that; that I’m at the beginning of a struggle that so many go through for YEARS.
While she went on to apologize for the “spam” of fertility-related posts as of lately, she shares it is only done for the “thousands of women” that have also experienced her struggle as it can all be very alienating. In light of her IVF journey, Starsiak Hawk even took to her Instagram Stories a week before, shutting down a “keyboard warrior” who targeted her actions and criticized her choices.
“I know this dissemination of info is not for a lot of my followers,” she said in the post alongside the photo of her son. “I myself would have been annoyed by my posts, thinking they were ‘too much’ before I got a glimpse of this world. So to those followers, sorry for the spam. BUT I do if [because] of the literal hundreds, likely thousands of women that have thanked me [because] allowing my struggle to be public has helped them in one way or another; mostly just not feeling alone [because] so many people just don’t talk about these things. It’s a silent struggle the no one gets until they’re there.”
While infertility can be a difficult experience, both emotionally and physically, Starsiak Hawk has been chronicling her challenges for months now, sharing most candidly with fans the various procedures she has been undergoing, including a HSG or hysterosalpingogram test that diagnoses blocked fallopian tubes and acupuncture.
As one of the most effective forms of assisted reproductive technology, IVF or “in vitro fertilization” is a multifaceted series of procedures used to help women with fertility. During IVF trials, mature eggs are retrieved from the ovaries and fertilized by sperm in a lab. Following this collection, the fertilized egg or eggs (embryos) are subsequently transferred to the uterus. These steps are split into different parts and the process can often take a little longer.
Starsiak Hawk is currently filming for Season 5 of Good Bones, set to premiere in 2020.
Photo credit: Rachel Luna / Getty Images
