Amy Schumer has revealed the physical and emotional toll IVF is taking on her body.
In a candid photo posted to Instagram, Schumer, 38, bared her stomach covered in bruises. “I’m a week into IVF and feeling really run down and emotional,” she wrote alongside it.
The actor, who is mum to eight-month-old Gene with her husband Chris Fischer, asked her followers for advice if anyone had been through it. “We are freezing my eggs and figuring out what to do to give Gene a sibling,” she added.
Schumer lifted the lid on the difficulties involved in having multiple children – and the issues some women have conceiving. Her fans came out in droves with support, sharing their own experiences of the procedure.
“IVF is a road that I travelled,” one commenter said. “The waiting room is like a library with no eye contact. The meds make you feel bloated or what I like to call ‘puffy’ – like uncomfortable in your skin.”
The woman went on to reveal the “little moments” she can’t forget, and advised Schumer to “laugh” at them. “The doctor investigating your lady parts, sperm cups filled from 90s porn, the endless needles that become a job, and my personal favourite was the hot anaesthesiologist asking you how much you weigh.”
She added: “Be kind to yourself and always take one day at a time. Always remember you have a beautiful kid and that is a miracle in itself!”
Another woman who’d been through IVF – and now has an eight-year-old daughter – said: “It is a very difficult process and sadly, [there’s] little you can do to make it easier on either of you. Try to keep busy and enjoy the moments with Gene. That beautiful boy will remind you of the why.
“Also keep all your syringes and take a photo before discarding them.”
It’s not the first time Schumer has been open online about what she’s going through – she’s talked about being afraid to return to work as a new mum, as well as sharing shots of her C-section scar and of herself using a breast pump.
Schumer also posted a hilarious video of herself heavily pregnant, trying to put on a pair of socks – which, as anyone who’s navigated an enormous baby bump will know, is no mean feet (sic).