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Whitney Port has opened up about the “financial stress” of her ongoing fertility journey.
The Hills alum, 39, recently detailed the staggering cost of growing her family as she undergoes in vitro fertilization (IVF) and surrogacy. In an episode of her podcast With Whit, the reality TV star estimated that she and her husband, producer Tim Rosenman, will spend $200,000 in the hopes of having baby number two.
Port explained that the couple had turned to surrogacy after she experienced multiple miscarriages. However, she shared that she’s currently undergoing another round of IVF egg retrieval with a new surrogate after their former surrogate suffered two pregnancy losses of her own.
Speaking on the podcast, the fashion designer revealed that simply rematching with a new surrogate will cost the couple $15,000 alone. “Can you even believe that? That’s just the charge just to find a new surrogate, let alone the surrogacy fees?”
Port then estimated just how much the total price of their IVF and surrogacy journey will ultimately cost. “This whole thing is probably going to end up costing us, I feel like, $200,000,” she said. “I can’t even believe that I’m saying that, but I know that so many people that have followed along have brought up the financial stress that comes with this, and it is real.”
Despite her shock over the jaw-dropping amount, Port admitted that she and her husband “feel very privileged” they have enough “savings” to afford the pricey IVF and surrogacy process. Still, she described how “heartbreaking” it was that becoming pregnant is “something that happens to so many people so easily for free.”
In a post shared to her Instagram on August 6, Port gave fans an update on her mixed emotions ahead of her egg retrieval. Alongside a beachside selfie of Port in a blue one-piece swimsuit, she explained in the caption how “awful” she was feeling emotionally and physically leading up to the procedure.
“The hormones are making me feel like I can’t manage anything, like everything is just the worst. And I’m nervous that I’m not going to get out any quality eggs and what will this all be for. I’m scared. My energy is non-existent and I feel like I’m not showing up the way I should as a wife, mom, sister, friend, co-worker, etc,” she shared.
The MTV star explained that her “stomach feels up in my throat and I’m on the verge of tears/actual tears all day,” though each day her symptoms have been different. “I’ll be ready to return to gratitude soon, but I am just not there yet with so much up in the air. That may be pessimistic, but I don’t want to force any feelings either,” Port said, concluding her caption: “I can’t thank you all enough for your support and words of encouragement.”
Port met Rosenman while he worked on The City – a spin-off of MTV’s The Hills, which aired from 2008 to 2010 – as a producer. They were engaged in 2013 and tied the knot in November 2015. Two years later, they welcomed their first child together, son Sonny Sanford Rosenman.
The reality star has been open about her fertility struggles over the years, revealing to People that she experienced her first miscarriage when her son was just two years old. Since then, Port has undergone three miscarriages and one chemical pregnancy.
