It wasn’t an easy road to parenthood, but Erin Andrews and her husband, Jarret Stoll, are officially a family of three. The couple welcomed their first child – a son named Mack – via surrogacy on June 28 after a 10-year battle with infertility that resulted in years of unsuccessful pregnancies through IVF.
In an exclusive interview with TODAY on July 14, Erin Andrews detailed the many emotions rushing through her body as she witnessed her surrogate give birth to her first child and what it’s like now that she’s a first-time mother – her little nugget is already two weeks old and he isn’t getting any younger!
“I’m not going to lie, I get really queasy, and I’ve been known to pass out,” Andrews said – adding she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to watch the birth. Not only was she in the room, but she was holding her surrogate’s hand as she pushed and, luckily for her, it only took one push before her son arrived.
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Erin Andrews likened the experience to something she knows a lot about – sports and, more specifically, football. She and Jarret Stoll stood by their surrogate’s bedside and ‘were cheering for her like she was our quarterback.’ She described her husband’s excitement as if he ‘just won the Stanley Cup again.’
The exciting news comes after 10 years of disappointment – which Andrews describes as ‘10 years of hell.’ The couple started trying for a baby in 2013 when Andrews was 35, but were met with complication after complication – including a cancer diagnosis in 2016 and losing twins via surrogacy two years ago.
Her diagnosis with cervical cancer put things into perspective and the couple ultimately decided to freeze embryos after speaking with their oncologist. She was declared cancer-free in 2017 after two surgeries, but Erin and Jarret decided to move forward with the IVF treatments in case the cancer made a return.
Things seemed to be looking up when they had twins on the way, but that’s when tragedy struck again. “I really struggled mentally. I didn’t handle it very well … I kind of tried to push it aside and act like everything was OK,” Andrews explained – adding that Mack was their ‘golden embryo’ and their ‘last hope’ at a baby.
Erin Andrews Wants to Make Up for Lost Time
Erin Andres has only been a mother a few weeks now and admits she’s still figuring things out, but she’s excited to bond with her little nugget and looks forward to learning more about him every day. It has been a long time coming and she’s happy her and her husband remained resilient over the past 10 years.
“I want the connection with him. I can’t wait for the chemistry. You know, I’m so far from being maternal in my life because I’m on a football field and I’m working with men,” she said in her interview with TODAY. “I keep starting at him. I want to study everything about him. I want to make up for lost time,” she continued.
Erin Andrews also praised NBC’s Kristen Welker as one of the main motivators behind her journey through infertility. Welker had her own experience with infertility and it was her openness through that journey that allowed Andrews to relate to her and gave her the ability to make it through her own journey.
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It also helped her realize the importance behind sharing her own experience with the world and urging others to come forward so no one has to go through this alone. “Going through this whole journey, you think you’re alone. You’re not alone,” she says – and neither is she, now that her son has arrived.
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