Dixie Chicks Martie Maguire and Emily Robison Open Up About Their Fertility Struggles
This article is from the People Magazine website, 2007: http://celebritybabies.people.com/2007/09/20/dixie-chicks-op/
Dixie Chicks and sisters Martie Maguire, 37, and Emily Robison, 35, have made no secret of the challenges they faced while attempting to conceive their children, finally succeeding with IVF treatments. Martie is now mom to twins Eva Ruth and Kathleen ‘Katie’ Emilie, 3, while Emily has Charles Augustus ‘Gus,’ 4 1/2, and twins Julianna Tex and Henry Benjamin, 2.
However, for the first time, they tell their story in-depth to Conceive magazine — discussing getting their shots while on tour, the difficulty of seeing Natalie Maines’ easy pregnancies, Martie’s baby plans, and more.
Fertility Struggles Arise
Both Emily and Martie had always wanted to be mothers, and their health and family history didn’t suggest that there would be a problem achieving that dream. Bandmate Natalie Maines, 32, decided to start her family a year after getting married to actor Adrian Pasdar, and got pregnant with son Jackson Slade, now 6 1/2, right away. The sisters thought it would be just as easy for them. Martie says,
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][Our mom got pregnant easily.] We have an older sister who gets pregnant easily. So Emily and I think there may be an environmental cause for our problems. Neither of us were very old when we started trying. But we’ve lived very parallel lives. We’ve been in a band together since I was 12 and she was 10. We can’t help but wonder, did we stay in a hotel near a power plant? Did we drink the same bad water? Maybe there’s a link.
Emily’s Story
Emily had been married to country singer Charlie Robison for a few years when they decided the time was right to start their family.
We definitely had a plan. But we were under the naïve assumption that once we started we’d be pregnant the first month. When it didn’t work that way, I was in shock. After about six months of trying naturally, we were aware there could be a problem. We had the basic tests done, and everything was normal. So we started slowly at first, trying artificial insemination to up our chances.
Another year passed with no pregnancies. Emily and Charlie decided to take a more aggressive approach. Emily underwent a laparoscopy, which found that she had mild endometriosis — however, it was ‘nothing that would have kept me from getting pregnant.’ The couple tried for six more months without success — ‘Then we were ready to just go for it.’
After two years and three rounds of IVF treatment, son Augustus Charles was born on the fourth try, on November 11th, 2002. Emily and Charlie were over the moon with Gus, their miracle baby.
When Gus was almost two, Emily and Charlie decided it was time to test their luck again — the couple wanted more babies.
The second time was a lot easier. We went straight to IVF. We had some leftover embryos, so we did a couple of frozen cycles, but they didn’t take. Then we did another fresh cycle and put in three embryos. And I got pregnant with twins.
This cycle and pregnancy, Emily was able to stay home, as the Dixie Chicks were no longer touring. Twins Julianna Tex and Henry Benjamin arrived on April 14th, 2005.
Part 2 of this article will be published tomorrow.
RSMC is a state-of-the-art, full-service fertility center in San Diego offering the services Martie and Emily used plus surrogacy and egg donation. If you have any questions about any of these services please contact us at info@fertile.com.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
