Vegas, Baby Page #2

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a glimpse, you know--

well, he looked like grandpa.

All right, it's

time for gifts.

It's time for gifts.

- Ooh!

Oh, what cool outfits.

Time for gifts.

It took me two

and a half years

to save up the money that we

needed for our very first IVF.

Woo!

To Tia Elena.

I'll

be 41 soon, and we

don't have two and a half

years to save up again,

so this is it for us.

All right, Merry

Christmas everyone.

Yay!

My name is Athena Reich.

I'm an actress and

a singer songwriter.

I give music lessons

to kids, and I work

as a Lady Gaga impersonator.

I want your love

and I want your revenge.

You and me could

write a bad romance.

Oh.

I want your love and--

I started wanting kids

since I was a baby.

People would say, what do you

want to be when you grow up?

And I'd say, the first woman to

walk on the moon, and a mommy.

And a firewoman.

And then later, an actress.

So I've always known I wanted

to be a mother, always.

And I've just been, you

know, focusing on my career,

and trying to find

the right partner.

Right.

When I first decided

that's it, I'm

just gonna start having kids.

I can't wait any more.

I would wake up panicking

about being a single parent.

But I'm not doing this alone.

I have my mom, and her support.

Athena's very resourceful.

I think she'll manage it.

I think it will be hard.

But I think she'll work it out.

New York, New York.

- How are you?

- Good.

How was your morning?

Good.

I've always known I

wanted to have kids.

But I had infertility problems,

so I said, that's what I want.

And if you're willing to

do it, then we can date.

Hello.

Hello.

What do we have?

Yay.

I've been told just

to stop trying.

Maybe God doesn't want

you to have children.

Just adopt.

As if we haven't tried.

And then purple on

the sides, too, maybe.

We just felt the best option

was just to take a mortgage

out, and go through in vitro.

Just put it up so you can see.

They put in two

eggs, and they both took.

So my wife got

pregnant with twins.

Can you read this?

Yeah.

What does it say?

Happy birthday to my

baby girl in heaven.

Mommy loves you and misses you.

My son was 20 weeks

when my water broke.

And then I was

immediately rushed

into surgery, because I didn't

want to lose both children.

About three weeks later

my water broke again,

and Katalynn passed

away a couple

hours after she was born.

I could not look at this

book for a long time.

But when I got

strength, and when

we got stronger as a

couple, we realized

that it was something special.

Hey, I don't know about

you, but I still struggle

going into our baby's room.

It's still hard.

And so it's, like, best

when the door's closed.

There's a part of

me inside of me

that feels like it would be

best for us just to start over.

You know, be in a

different relationship

with somebody else.

And try to have your

family with somebody else.

Because that pain that we

have will always be there.

And that's the

challenge, is trying

to fight through that urge to

say, you know what, I'm done.

I just wanna move on.

And that's the real challenge.

Yup.

Hi.

Ready to do this?

One, two, three.

We've made it this far.

Love you.

You too.

I'm just willing to take

the risk again, to be a mom.

So this contest is our best

chance at having a family.

I think it's

important to acknowledge

that there's no fair or

right way to do this.

It's just an inherently

difficult process.

And whoever does come

out, you know, a winner,

the other people are not, you

know, losers by any stretch

of the imagination.

Her, I just felt

like she's so broken.

And it was a very raw moment.

But, yeah, I feel--

I feel concerned for her.

I am absolutely

glad I am not a judge.

I wouldn't be good

at it, and I wouldn't

feel good about doing it.

I don't like pitting these

people against each other.

Next is Athena Reich.

Hi, my name is Athena.

I came out as a

lesbian as

a teenager.

I told my mother.

She was very

accepting.

She said the only

thing that makes

me sad

is I always

pictured you having

a family,

and children.

And I said, mom--

I was 17 at the time--

I said, mom, that's

not changing.

I've always wanted children,

and me being lesbian

is not going to change that.

So--

Even when she was

talking about coming out,

and even then, one of the

first things that came up

is are you gonna have children.

And I thought that she

brought up a really good point.

She's taking an

action step, instead

of waiting for a partner,

which she hasn't found yet.

She wants kids, and she knows

it, so she's gonna go for it.

All right,

so we're gonna move on.

Brian and Ann Johnson.

--it goes to waste.

Could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home.

And ignite your--

OK, our notes on them.

We know what happened

on their first IVF.

And they were foster parents

for two girls for a year,

and they had to give them back.

So--

Do you know their ages?

Yes.

33 and 35.

So they're still young, yeah.

What I was most impressed

about was that they persevered.

And having gone through

a failed adoption,

I understand that

those feelings can be

very similar to an actual loss.

All right,

Dagoberto and Rosalinda.

Life ran

past us, until one day.

This is the story of a girl

and a boy who found each other,

and would now love nothing

more than to grow their family.

Dago would like to teach

him or her all about cars,

and share his vast

Star Trek collection.

For us it has been four IVFs

and two frozen embryo transfers.

So I think you guys

remember this one.

- Yeah.

- Yes.

OK.

All right.

The notes that I have on them.

He's the manager for

a Catholic TV station.

She's an accountant.

He's what?

He's what?

A manager for

a Catholic TV station.

For them to step

forward, with his job,

is incredibly courageous.

And actually could

jeopardize his job.

How many of

the IVFs did they do?

Two?

Four IVFs, two FETs.

I mean, I really,

really like them a lot.

I thought their story

was really well done.

My only concern is, I mean,

they've done a lot, a lot,

a lot.

This is not like they've done

a couple of Clomid cycles,

and I'm just--

- I don't know.

It's tough.

You want to pick somebody

that's got a good story

that has the financial need.

But also, that has the

best chance of success.

OK, on that note,

I think we are gonna vote.

As horrendous a word as that is.

OK.

This is like Sophie's Choice.

The

Sher Institute asked

me to be a judge for their

contest, and I declined.

Here is a medical procedure

that is necessary for people

to treat their disease.

And it's just this one sector of

the entire health care spectrum

where it seems perfectly normal

to have a raffle or a contest.

It's disturbing.

It's a hardship

for the average American

to afford IVF, and for

many it's impossible.

For those that say that

there shouldn't be a contest,

I agree.

There should be insurance.

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