Jenni Pulos has been through a lot to have baby No. 2. The Flipping Out star opened up to Us Weekly about her fertility struggles and IVF treatments before welcoming her daughter, Georgia Grace, in June.
The 44-year-old Bravo-lebrity tells Us she felt like she was “living in a dream” after giving birth to her little girl, whom she shares with husband Dr. Jonathan Nassos. “It feels amazing to be a mom of two especially because we went through a lot to have her,” she said. “When I look at her I just think, ‘Wow miracles are possible.’”
Georgia has already bonded with her older sister, 4-year-old Alianna. “I see how she is with my eldest daughter and they already have a connection — a soul connection,” Pulos tells Us. “So she was worth it. She was worth every shot and every time I cried. When we finally got to the finish line of her being born it was so incredibly rewarding.”
Pulos revealed that her struggles started years ago, when she suffered a miscarriage before she got pregnant with Alianna. “I had just had a miscarriage and really with no time in between — which was another serious miracle — [until] I fell pregnant again,” she explained. “It was a very emotional time. I was grieving for the miscarriage but overjoyed about the new pregnancy.”
She adds, “It was a long road — first to Alianna, then to deciding we wanted a second and having a lot of trouble with that and then the fertility treatment.”
Two years ago, Pulos start IVF treatments, and the first round was unsuccessful. During the second round, she had only one viable embryo, which was Georgia. “I’ll never forget that drive down to the doctor because we had done the testing but you don’t even know until that day whether something could be viable. So we were waiting and waiting, and the doctor finally walked in the room. We just thought, ‘Oh my gosh what is the news going to be?’ and I was already mentally preparing myself for a disappointment,” she recalled. “And he came in and said, ‘There’s only one viable embryo, it’s a little girl and we’re going to transfer her now.’”
Then, weeks into her pregnancy, Pulos ended up in the emergency room with an infection after she was given a contaminated batch of the hormone progesterone. “When I finally did get pregnant you start something called progesterone to make sure the pregnancy stays strong in the first few weeks,” she revealed. “I was on IV antibiotics for 10 days, I had to go to the ER. I thought I was going to lose the pregnancy after all that I’d been through.”
After welcoming a healthy baby, the TV personality said she would encourage other women to try IVF when they feel the timing is right. “You have to be emotionally in the right place to go all the way through. So, if you’re thinking ‘I don’t know if I’m ready for this and I don’t know if I can handle the shots and what if it doesn’t work out?’ give yourself a break and come back when you are really committed,” she said.
Flipping Out season 10 premieres on Bravo Thursday, August 17, at 9 p.m. ET.
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